Take Care
by KyoSenpai01
Summary: After being captured while infiltrating Konoha, Asami is freed from the power of Orochimaru, joining team seven. She and Naruto fall for each other as they grow closer, but Asami quickly grows weary of his obsession with keeping his promise to Sakura. All the while, she battles her conflicted feelings for Sasuke while resisting the growing temptation of returning to the Snake.
1. Chapter 1

((A/N: Hello everyone! So I have started a new story... Due to many complications, I haven't had the opportunity to continue my original story, Envy of the Uchiha. I couldn't stand not writing, so I started a new story. I hope you guys enjoy it! Thank you for reading, and please review!))

Dim moonlight pours in from the open window next to my bed. My eyes are set on the view beyond the frame of the window as that gentle moonlight creates a gentle glow over all the buildings of Konoha. It's so serene and beautiful, and there's nothing I love more than that peaceful silence, only the rustling of leaves in the wind disturbing the silence. The entire village has gone to sleep in these late hours of darkness, and I've long since stopped counting the hours from when the last light went off, leaving only the silver moon and a blanket of stars to guide anyone lost. If only those stars could guide my lost mind…

I ought to be asleep right now. It seems I'm the only one in the entire village that is awake. I know tomorrow is going to be a long day, but the events from today continue to occupy my mind, making it impossible for me to rest. It was the meeting with Lady Tsunade that stuck with me.

"Asami," she'd said in that commanding voice of hers. I stood at attention in front of her desk in the "oval office". "Now that you are no longer under treatment, you have clearance to be released. However, you will still be kept under close watch until further notice. Be on your best behavior."

"Yes, Lady Hokage," I replied, head bowed.

"Now," Tsunade continued, "I leave you in the hands of your new teacher, Hatake Kakashi."

"Yo," a male voice said from a corner of the room. Surprised, I jerked my head to where the voice came from to find a tall, masked man with unkempt silver hair standing casually at a distance, reading a tiny book.

"He will watch over you and teach you for the time being," Tsunade said, catching my attention. I turned my head back to her as she continued. "You are now branded as an official member of Konohagakure, serving your village as a trained kunoichi, able to be promoted in rank beginning at genin. You will serve in Team Seven under Kakashi's rule. Congratulations." With that, I bowed once again.

"Lady Hokage!" I said, as a formality.

"Kakashi, do what you must," Tsunade said, and I looked back once again at my new sensei to see him lazily salute Tsunade. "Dismissed."

"Asami, come with me," Kakashi said, for the first time putting his book down. He said few words to me as we walked. "We have business to take of today, and after that, you're free to do as you like for the rest of today. You won't begin training until tomorrow." I nod in response.

"What 'business' are we attending to today?" I asked.

"We have to seal up that curse mark of yours," Kakashi replied. Although I didn't say much, Kakashi could feel how uneasy I was. After sealing my mark, he said to me, "Forget anything Orochimaru taught you. Don't even think about him. You're being renewed now, and his teachings will do you no good." Remembering those words, I examine the triple teardrop formation of my curse mark on my left wrist, now having the seal Kakashi placed around the original mark. I trace the black markings with my right index finger, deep in thought.

I finally lie down, even though I am not so tired. I have to get some sleep. I abandon my thoughts as I close my eyes, memories of the past and fears of the future haunting me.

I am awaken by none other Hatake Kakashi in the morning.

"Rise and shine," I hear a familiar voice protrude through the darkness of my dream.

"Mm…" I mumble. "Not yet… It's too late…" My eyes slowly peel open, and what they register are blurry spots of white and dark blue among an array of other dark colors.

"Let's go," the voice says. "Come on, get up." My foggy brain finally registers the voice, and my eyes clear up some so that I can make out that fluffy head of wonderful silver hair. That hair simply… _fascinates_ me.

"Kakashi Sensei?" I mumble, reaching out to bury my hands in that luscious silver hair. "Is that you?"

"Yo," the man replies. "Let's go, ne?"

"Oi, it's so early," I complain, rolling over before it registers that I didn't invite Kakashi into my flat. "Wait!" I roll back over to face my sensei, but his face is a lot closer than expected, surprising me. I yelp as I instinctively roll back over and attempt jumping up, but fail miserably. I end up sprawled out on my bed, scrambling to sit up right. When I finally get a prominent view of Kakashi, I see he's in the same position, squatting next to my bed, looking as cheerful as ever.

"Well good morning," Kakashi greets.

"Don't you 'good morning me'!" I command, pointing a finger at him. "What are you doing?!"

"Well, I said we'd meet up today, yeah?"

"That's not the point! Why are you in here when I didn't even invite you in? Oi, nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Well, I apologize. But how did you expect me to come and get you?"

"Try knocking!" I exclaim as I face palm. "You do know there's something called 'invading', ne?"

"Oh really?"

"Don't forget 'breaking and entering'."

"I've broken nothing." I groan and face palm again. Is the man not getting it?

"Either way… Why are you coming to get me so early?"

"It's ten in the morning."

"Wait, what?!" I jerk my head towards my window. It seems Kakashi had pulled the shutters closed, because I know I didn't do it. I see the bright morning light pouring in through the cracks in the blinds, and I can now tell how late it really is.

"Since it's so late, we ought to get going, ne?" Kakashi says, getting up from the side of my bed and begins walking towards the door. I put my hand to my head in exasperation and rub my eyes. I still feel so tired. There's no way it could already be ten o'clock! I feel like I only got two minutes of sleep. "Oi, you coming?" Kakashi asks, grabbing my attention.

"Uh, yeah," I reply. "Let me get dressed."

"Don't take too long." Kakashi finds a seat as I throw on my usual attire; a short sleeved fishnet tee under a solid black tank and black capris that draw tight at the waist and the feet of the capris. I quickly brush my teeth before pulling back the top half of my long chocolate hair in a braid going down the middle, leaving the bottom half of my hair down. Afterwards, I pull on black fingerless gloves that extend just high enough to cover my curse mark, as well as my black sandals.

"Okay," I say to Kakashi as I begin to walk towards my door ahead of him. "Let's go." However, before I can reach my door, Kakashi stops me.

"Not so fast," he says, and I turn on my heel to face him, looking at him expectantly. "There's something you're going to need from now on." I step towards my teacher as he stands up and pulls something out of his pocket.

"What is it?" I ask as Kakashi hands the object to me, and he lets me find out the answer. I take in my hands something hard with a soft fabric laid over it. I unfold the black cloth slowly and find that it is the official headband of Konoha! Shocked, I admire the forehead protector with the Konoha leaf symbol etched perfectly into the shiny metal. I look up at Kakashi, almost as if asking permission to put it on, and he nods to me. I smile and rush to my bathroom mirror, fitting the black cloth around my forehead before I even make it there. Once it's tied snug around my forehead, I gaze at the beautiful headband, now feeling complete. Even though Tsunade already gave me the official welcome, it's not until now that I really feel like a part of this village. I am a part of this village.

I am a kunoichi of Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves.

I see Kakashi step behind me from the reflection of the mirror, and I turn around to face him. My instincts tell me to lunge forward and jump on him, to just glomp the man, and I almost do. I have a hard containing myself, and Kakashi chuckles as it's made obvious to him. Then, I quickly bow.

"Thank you, sensei!" I say as I bow.

"Oi, don't thank me; thank Lady Ho—" Before he can finish his sentence, I lose the battle fighting my instincts and capture Kakashi in a bear hug. He is obviously startled as he immediately stiffens and freezes as if mentally questioning what to do. My smile broadens as he hesitantly pats my back twice before trying to separate us. I then step back to watch Kakashi sigh a breath of relief.

"Okay, let's go," I say, and Kakashi nods, leading the way out the door.

We soon arrive at a small bridge where two others await. From a distance I can see they're about my age; around sixteen and seventeen years old. These must be the others in team seven. As Kakashi and I draw closer to them, I begin making out their details. One is a girl with a short pink hair, wearing mostly red, and the other is a boy with spikey blonde hair wearing orange and black. They seem to be having a dispute, but stop and wave ad they notice Kakashi and I approaching.

"Kakashi Sensei," the blonde boy complains when we all stand near each other, "you're always late!"

"Sorry, Naruto," Kakashi says, rubbing the back of his head. "I got lost on the road of life." The boy growls before the pink haired girl hits him in the head.

"Naruto," she growls. "Stop your complaining! We have a newcomer!" The girl then looks at me and smiles, extending a hand. "Hi, I'm Haruno Sakura. Pleased to meet you."

"Oh, thanks," I say, taking her hand. I notice her sparkling teal eyes, then taking into account how pretty this girl is. "You have beautiful eyes," I say, and she then backs away, smiling.

"Oh, thank you," she says. She looks like she wants to say something else, but the boy then steps towards me, extending his hand.

"Uzimaki Naruto!" he greets enthusiastically as I take his hand. I can't help but be the least bit charmed by his brilliant smile and energy. I smile, noting the whisker-like marks on his cheeks. He then backs away, standing next to Sakura.

"Thanks guys," I say. "Just call me Asami."

"So Asami," Naruto says, "what brings you to Konoha?"

"Oh," I say reluctantly. "It's kind of a long story…" There's a short silence before Kakashi steps in.

"Let's save that discussion for later," Kakashi says, stepping forward.

"Alright," Naruto says. He, obviously, is one to start conversation. "So what did you call us together for today?"

"Since Asami is new," Kakashi says, "I thought we could take the time today to welcome her to Konoha, and since she hasn't had breakfast, I'll treat you all to something to eat." After debating on where we should go to eat, we finally settle on Ichi Raku (after the insistence of Naruto) and head to our destination.

"Oh, Ichi Raku has the _best_ ramen you'll ever taste _anywhere_," Naruto gushes when we've taken our seats. He and Sakura sit on either sides of me, and Kakashi next to Naruto, his nose in his book.

"I've never really been particularly fond of ramen," I say to Naruto.

"Ramen is all Naruto _ever_ eats," Sakura says, and I laugh as Naruto narrows his eyes at Sakura. My eyes fall on Kakashi behind Naruto once again.

"Hey," I say, my voice lowered, and Naruto and Sakura automatically lean in some. "What's that book Kakashi Sensei is always reading?"

"Oh," Naruto replies immediately, "it's his Icha Icha_ porn_ novel. He doesn't like to admit it, but—"

"I don't like to admit what, Naruto?" Kakashi cuts off Naruto. Naruto, Sakura, and I all immediately jump back, facing Kakashi.

"Eh, nothing Kakashi Sensei!" Naruto exclaims with a nervous smile.

"Yeah, it's nothing, sensei!" Sakura tunes in with the same nervous smile as Naruto. Kakashi looks at me, and I sweat drop before plastering a smile on my face and nodding vigorously. Kakashi sits there, staring us down for a few seconds before Naruto desperately attempts to divert Kakashi's attention.

"Hey look!" Naruto says, gesturing towards the counter. "The old man's ready to take our order! Hey old man!" We all look to the man running the ramen place as he looks in our direction with a confused expression.

After ordering our food, Naruto immediately strikes conversation while scarfing down his bowl. "So," Naruto says, "how did you end up in Konoha?" I swallow what's in my mouth before sighing, thinking on how I should answer this. I turn my head down as I contemplate.

"Naruto," Sakura hisses from behind me.

"What?" Naruto asks obliviously.

"Maybe you shouldn't get in her business," Sakura says, but I cut her short before she can continue.

"No, no," I say, sitting up straight and smiling. "It's fine, Sakura, really." Sakura gives me a concerned look.

"Okay," she says slowly. "If you say so." It again falls silent for a few seconds before I speak up.

"Well," I begin hesitantly, "see…. I was a servant of Lord Orochimaru." Sakura and Naruto both seem taken aback by my statement. They both stop eating as they listen to my story. "I ended up here because I was infiltrating the village as a mission for Orochimaru. I was taken out by a small explosion, and afterwards was captured by Anbu. I had blacked out after the explosion, and I just remember waking up in the hospital. Apparently, Orochimaru had me under some kind of jutsu so that he would have the controlling influence on my mind, but the jutsu was undone by default after the explosion hit me. I was kept in closed quarters under close watch for a while until Lady Tsunade welcomed me into the village. And now, here I am."

"Orochimaru," Sakura mumbles with her head down before turning her head to face me. "Did you see Sasuke?" Immediately, my heart skips a beat.

"Sasuke?" I repeat slowly as Naruto leans in, looking at Sakura.

"He was our team member," Sakura says desperately. "He has black hair and eyes and bears the sharingan—"

"I know," I cut Sakura off, and she and Naruto seem astonished. "He was the sole survivor of the Uchiha massacre; mostly uses fire and lightning style; is set on revenge. I know." I look at both of my new teammates, and Sakura seems to be on the verge of tears.

"How do you know him?" Naruto asks, eyebrows stressed.

"I… I often trained with him while with Orochimaru," I say. "We were a lot alike, as far as fighting skills and styles, but Orochimaru seemed to favorite him."

"Did he ever tell you about us? About his past team members?" Sakura asks, and I can clearly see the tears in her eyes.

"He hardly spoke of his past, but then again, he hardly started or carried conversation," I say. "But he never said anything about you." Immediately, the tears spill forth from Sakura's eyes. I stare at her, unsure of how I'm supposed to comfort her. Were they really so close that she'd cry like this over him?

"I—I'm sorry," Sakura sobs. "Just give me a minute. I'll be right back." She then gets up and runs off somewhere, leaving me with Naruto and Kakashi. I look at Naruto to see him with a downcast face, and I can't help feeling the guilt rising in my chest.

"I'm sorry if it was something I said," I say, looking at my hands. "I didn't know it was like this…"

"No, it's not your fault," Naruto quickly says. I look at him, and he gives me a reassuring smile. "Sakura… she's fine. This is just a difficult subject for us."

"Oh," I say. "Okay then." I pause before continuing. "Were you guys… close?"

"He was my best friend," Naruto says. "We've been trying for years to get him back. We haven't done it yet, but we will. We have to. I made a promise…" Naruto pauses, as if reconsidering his words. "Anyways, how were you and Sasuke alike?"

"It's not really a lot," I say. "We both were just at around the same skill level when fighting, and we both are proficient users of fire and lightning style, although those are the only types I am able to use. He taught me chidori, and Orochimaru often had him train me in sword fighting…" I stop as I consider telling Naruto about my curse mark. It was one reason why Orochimaru often paired me with Sasuke, but… "We were close," I say, and decide to finish with that. I don't want to tell any of my teammates about my curse mark until we get closer.

"Well," Kakashi intervenes after a short silence. Naruto and I had forgotten about our sensei as he sat there in complete silence. "I'm going to go see if Sakura is okay. Naruto, please show Asami around. We'll just meet up tomorrow at noon, same place."

"Hai," Naruto says, and Kakashi disappears in the blink of an eye. Naruto then turns to face me, smiling. "You ready for a tour of Konoha?" I smile back, nodding.

"Whenever you are."


	2. Chapter 2

((ANDDDD here is chapter 2! *throws confetti* SO I ought to be getting my tablet back soon, and hopefully soon after that I will _FINALLY_ publish the next chapter of Envy of the Uchiha. I got stuck a few times writing this, so sorry if it took a while... I will be updating ASAP on this and will probably be publishing a new story soon. Thanks for reading! And please forgive me for any typos;-; Enjoy!))

"And here is the place where we normally train," Naruto says as we walk towards the center of a large field. He gestures to his surroundings by stretching out his arms on either side before spinning around and falling on his back. I tilt my head to the side, looking at Naruto with a half smile before dropping to my knees next to him. I watch him as he stares up at the sky, and I marvel at his facial features. He's really incredibly handsome, and those whiskers are simply adorable.

My contemplations stop when Naruto's eyes fall on mine, reminding me that I'm staring at him. I have the impulse to immediately look away, but for some reason I don't; instead, I continue to stare into his brilliant blue eyes as he looks into mine. His eyes are one of the most gorgeous features he has. I don't even stop myself from complimenting him.

"Your eyes are beautiful," Naruto and I say simultaneously, and we both begin laughing.

"Oh, my eyes?" I ask, then shake my head. "No. They're so... dull." Naruto then smiles that dazzling smile of his.

"No," he says, "they're unique. I've never seen eyes like that. You can't really count Neji's or Hinata's eyes."

"Who?" Naruto snorts a laugh, to which I smile.

"You'll meet them later," he replies, putting his hands behind his head and looking at the sky. A soft breeze begins to blow, shifting the trees around the open field and Naruto's spiky hair. After a few seconds I scoot closer to Naruto and begin pulling up the grass. His eyes close as I sprinkle the shredded bright green blades over his face, my mind picturing my icy gray-blue eyes.

"So," I say after a few seconds, "is this the end of my tour?"

"Hmm... Yeah," Naruto mumbles, keeping his eyes closed. I continue dropping grass on him until he sits up. "Actually, no," he says. "There's one more place."

"Oh," I reply. "Where?" Naruto then stands up and holds his hand out to me.

"Come on," he says as I take his hand. He pulls me up, then leads me away from the field, toward the village. As we run and eventually jump up into the trees, I feel Naruto's energy radiating off him. I can even see it in his playful smile. I feel my smile broadening as I struggle to keep up with him.

"Naruto," I laugh, "slow down!"

"Keep up!" Naruto replies with a chuckle. He turns his head slightly towards me after a second. "Let's race!"

"What?" I inquire, my smile not faltering. "I don't even know where we're going!" Naruto laughs, turning his attention ahead of him.

"On your mark," he says, and my eyes widen.

"Naruto! What are you doing?"

"Get set..."

"Wait! Where are we going?"

"Go!"

"Naruto! No, wait!" Then, he speeds off laughing. I feel my cheeks getting sore from my smile, and I'm absolutely fascinated by this boy. He's so... _happy_. I speed up, catching up to get on his tail before I lose sight of him. He rushes through the trees, then across the rooftops after reaching the urban parts of the village, and before long, he's led me to the top of the Hokage Summit. As soon as we land on top of one of the heads, I shove the awaiting Naruto playfully. He laughs and repels my attacks, and I find myself laughing with him.

"Naruto! That wasn't funny!" I complain as I try to get a hit in. Naruto dances away from me on light feet, obviously practiced and skilled in defensive combat.

"Heh, you know it was," he teases, his smile broad. "Look, you're even smiling!"

"No!" I lamely lie. "What if I'd gotten lost?"

"But you didn't."

"But what _if_?!" After asking the question, I drop my hands and bend over laughing, and Naruto joins me. We both sit down after a while, and I almost forget why I'm up here. I look down at the magnificent view of Konoha before turning my attention to Naruto.

"So, what is this place?" I ask.

"Top of the Hokage Summit," Naruto replies.

"Well, I know that much," I say, "but what is its significance?"

"Oh," Naruto says with a chuckle. "I just like to come up here sometimes to be alone. To think. Just to get away." I nod slowly, watching as the shadows of the village buildings begin to loom. The sky is still bright blue, but it will be getting on dusk soon. The view is impressive, and I'm sure this would be the best place to get some solitude, some peace and quiet. Naruto... Isn't he hailed as a hero or something? That would make his life chaotic at times, and I'm sure he would need his own personal getaway.

"So," I say, breaking the silence, "aren't you like... _hailed_ as a hero or something?" I turn my head to Naruto, and he also turns his attention to me.

"Sort of," he answers, turning his head down as the corner of his lips pulls up in a smirk. I can see it's more of a bittersweet smirk than a smug or cocky smirk.

"Oh," I say, nodding. I pause before continuing. "Why?" There's a brief silence before he answers.

"I saved the village a couple of times," Naruto finally says. I nod, looking back over the village. I'd have expected him to be egocentric, to be honest, if I had knowledge of this before meeting Naruto. I mean, it's hard _not_ to be cocky when tons of people glorify you as their hero. It must not have always been this way.

"But it wasn't always like this," I say, and Naruto looks back over the village. There's another silence as a cool wind kisses my warm skin, and the distant horizon begins to graduate to shades of yellow and orange, the sky directly above still bright blue. "Do you have any special powers or something?" I inquire, and it seems to irk Naruto, this question. When he doesn't answer, I press on. "I mean, what enabled you to save this entire village?"

"I'm just a shinobi," Naruto says immediately. "A powerful shinobi. That's it."

"Oh," I reply, a bit startled by how he answered. We again remain in silence for a few seconds.

"What about you?" Naruto suddenly asks, turning his head towards me.

"Huh?" I ask, looking at him.

"I mean, what special powers do you have?" He elaborates. "Orochimaru must have taken you in for a reason."

"Oh," I say, looking down in my lap as I play with my thumbs. I know I'm not telling Naruto about my curse mark just yet, but what do I answer for now? After a few seconds of contemplation, I find my resolve. "Well, there's this special ninjutsu I can do," I say.

"What is it?" Naruto inquires.

"I like to call it replication jutsu," I explain. "I'm able to steal a person's memory- say, their memory of a jutsu- and through that I can replicate that jutsu. Well, if my body is physically capable and my chakra enough, of course. The name can be a little misleading, though, as it can be used for more than just replicating a jutsu."

"Oh," Naruto says. "How does it work?"

"Well..." I think over how I should explain before I perform a few hand seals, then focus my chakra in my fingertips. Naruto watches closely as the signature blue glow of the chakra slowly turns purple. "It's my kekkei genkai. After I perform those hand seals, it changes the composition of my chakra, turning it purple. Then when I make direct contact with a person, I can pour some of this chakra into them and navigate it through their body. If I don't change my chakra beforehand, the person simply absorbs my chakra; I can't get it back or navigate through the person's memory. When it's like this, though, I can in a way see their memories, kind of like a movie, and select the ones I want. Their memory is linked with their chakra, so as I extract their memories, I'm also taking some of their chakra, replenishing my supply. After that I can replicate a jutsu, and I usually have the chakra to carry it out."

"Wow," Naruto says. "You said it's your kekkei genkai?"

"Yeah," I reply. "Apparently, according to Orochimaru, I have an enzyme or something in my blood or chakra... I don't even know. It's unique to me, though. Sasuke tried it, but when he performed the hand seals, his chakra remained the same. It was like watching a dud."

"Well he has sharingan," Naruto chuckles.

"Hm. I think this would be kind of like his sharingan. I mean, I do use it mainly for copying techniques, although it does have kind if a high risk."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it can be dangerous for the user. It's not anything like immediate destruction or it backfires, but if not performed correctly, you could lose a significant amount of chakra and leave yourself wide open to attack. The thing is, this jutsu relies heavily upon direct contact to establish a connection. You need to be able to stay on your enemy. Once I lose contact, the connection is broken whether or not I have what I want. If my chakra is still in the person's body when I lose contact, I can't get it back; I'm depleted of my chakra, and mine converts back to normal so that the other person can use it."

"Heh, I'm sure Grandma Tsunade wouldn't approve of it. What family do you branch from?"

"I'm not sure..." I pause as Naruto seems surprised by this. "All I've ever had was Orochimaru... Well, him and Sasuke I suppose. I've always focused on mastering my abilities as Orochimaru wanted me to. That's why... That's why I'm so strong now. The only thing I ever focused on was getting stronger. Besides, there are other reasons he chose me, or at least I think so."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," I reply with a chuckle. I lean in and lower my voice to a whisper, and Naruto leans in as well. "I posses the rinnegan." I back away and look at Naruto, and he seems to be unable to comprehend my words.

"You posses... _rinnegan_?" Naruto repeats in a hushed tone, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. I nod in reply.

"Yeah... Just, don't tell anyone."

"You mean Grandma Tsunade doesn't know?!"

"Shhh!... No. I was afraid to tell her. She might not have accepted me."

"Wow..." There's a long silence as Naruto and I stare at each other, and suddenly, I can't hold it in. I burst out laughing.

"You should have seen your face!" I manage to get out between laughter. "Priceless!" Naruto furrows his eyebrows in confusion.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"I don't actually have rinnegan," I confess after I manage to stop my laughter. Naruto's eyes narrow at me, and I smile sweetly at him. "Actually, I'm a user of fire, lightening, and wind nature transformations, and I have scorch release among my arsenal as one of my kekkei genkai. I've also been practicing manipulating light and sound waves. A long time ago, I found that when I combine the hand seals I use for my replication jutsu and wind style, I could manipulate light and sound waves, creating illusions at will. Also, since it's not genjutsu, but rather ninjutsu, it can't be released unless I either stop it by will or am physically taken down. Other than that, I suppose I just have good agility and stamina, which help me to be able to pin my enemy down when I want to use replication on them. I suppose my eyesight is good. I don't know." At this point, I start rambling, and I suddenly stop when I hear Naruto chuckle. I turn my head to him, then smile in innocence and oblivion. "What?"

"You seem like a remarkable kunoichi, is all," Naruto says, laughing. My eyes narrow at him.

"Is that sarcasm I smell?" I challenge, but my smile ruins the seriousness of my tone.

"Maybe. What if it is sarcasm?"

"Then I'll have to teach you some manners. The hard way." I then crack my knuckles in the imposing bully manner. Naruto begins laughing, and my bully persona is broken as I join his laughter.

"Okay then," Naruto says. "So, why don't you show me how this replication jutsu is done?"

"Okay," I agree.

"Alright. How about... I'll think of a few questions, and when I have them all thought out, you can... what would I call it? Search my mind?" I laugh as Naruto confuses himself.

"Sure," I say. "Go on and think of them, and tell me when you're ready." Naruto nods before turning his head up towards the sky, getting into contemplation. After a few minutes, just as my mind begins wandering off, Naruto speaks up.

"Okay," he says, smiling. "I'm ready."

"Alright," I reply, then performing my hand seals and focusing my cakra in my fingertips. I look back at Naruto when the chakra glows purple, hestitating. "Ready?"

"Yeah," Naruto nods enthusiastically.

"Okay," I mumble to myself, slowly extending my hand towards Naruto's head. Just as my hand is about to touch his head, a voice abruptly stops me.

"Done with your tour?" Kakashi suddenly inquires from behind us. Naruto and I both skriek and jump, turning our bodies to face our sensei.

"Kakashi sensei! You're such a creep!" Naruto exclaims, and by the way Kakashi's right eye crinkles, I can see he smiles.

"Whatever do you mean?" Kakashi asks, and Naruto seems to simmer in anger.

"Hey! You know what I'm talking about! You're just as bad as Pervy Sage, if not worse..." Naruto begins to mumble, and I can't repress my smile. Those two certainly do have a funny relationship.

"Oh," I say after a second, "Kakashi sensei, how is Sakura?"

"She's just fine," he replies, "and I even get her to agree to dinner with us tonight since lunch didn't work out."

"Oh! That's good," I say with a smile. "But... is she upset with me?" At hearing this, Naruto turns and faces Kakashi and I.

"No," Kakashi says. "You have nothing to worry about. It's just difficult for her to manage talking about Sasuke. She isn't upset with you though, I assure you."

"Alright..." I answer slowly. I surely hope she isn't upset with me in such a short amount of time.

"Okay then," Kakashi says after a few seconds, "let's get going. Sakura is waiting for us." As Kakashi leads Naruto and I down the streets of Konoha, I continue meditating on the incident at lunch. For some reason, Naruto's words continue to ring vaguely in my head: "I made a promise..." He was so quick to change the subject afterwards...

"Naruto," I say as we walk a bit of a distance behind Kakashi. He turns his head to me suddenly, as if he'd forgotten that he wasn't alone in public.

"Yes?"

"Earlier, at lunch, you said you made a promise after Sakura had left, but you changed the subject directly afterwards." I pause as Naruto seems to recall the situation. "What was the promise?"

"Oh," he says as a small smile graces his face. "A long time ago, I promised Sakura that I would bring back Sasuke no matter what it took." I nod slowly as I process this. I want to ask if he and Sakura have or had something, but I feel I might be intruding a bit too much in his business if I do. We spend the rest of the walk in silence, and I have a strong feeling that Kakashi was listening to Naruto and I. We meet Sakura at some sushi place, and she smiles as she greets us. We sit and order our food, conversing and laughing as we eat. In our moments of silence, I peer out at the beauty of the city in the hours of dark, lanterns giving a soft yet lively glow and illuminating the streets.

After we've eaten our fill, giggling and cracking jokes as tiredness begins to befall us all, we take our leave from the restaurant. Sakura and Kakashi head their separate ways, but Naruto decides to walk me home. Nearly the entire time we laugh from silly jokes and exchanging stupid pick-up lines, and we begin to wind down as we reach my flat. For a few minutes, we talk and laugh over how we were trying to sneak a peek at Kakashi's unmasked face. A silents befalls us after I yawn heavily, causing Naruto to yawn as well.

"Alright," I say tiredly, "goodnight, Naruto."

"Goodnight, Asami," he replies, and we both smile as I open my door and enter my flat. I close and lock my door, and after brushing my teeth and undressing, I lie in my bed, peering out the window at the village as I had done the night before. A smile tugs at my lips as I remember today's events, and I close my eyes to get to rest, although my mind still scrambles about aimlessly.

I had such a great time with Team 7, and I'm looking forwards to being part of this team everyday. I can't possibly imagine why Sasuke would want to leave all this behind, even for the sake of power...

As I foresaw, my mind will be keeping me up, but most likely for no more than as hour. Well, no sense in keeping my eyes closed, I suppose. My eyes pop open, and I rest on my side, staring out the window.

As I did the night before, I begin counting the lights that are going out when a silhouette catches my attention. I narrow my eyes a bit as the silhouette is rather far away, and as I try to make out the figure, my heart skips a beat. I roll out of my bed and approach my window, resting my arms on the windowsill as I try to get a closer look.

The figure is most definitely a male. He has... a sword sheath in his belt upon which his hand rests. Everything about the male is all too familiar; the way he stands, the way his hands rests on his sheath, and even what I can make out of the clothing. It couldn't be... Sasuke?

The silhouette suddenly turns in my direction, starling me. I turn away from the window immediately and crawl in my bed. There's no way that's Sasuke. He can't be here... I turn and look out once again through the window, but the silhouette is gone. I sigh heavily as I roll onto my back and stare at my ceiling. Tonight is going to be a long night...


	3. Chapter 3

It's been almost three weeks now that I've been with Team 7. I spoke to no one of when I saw Sasuke, and as time passed it became less of a stress to me as I didn't see him any of the following nights. I guess Kakashi didn't feel like actually doing any work during those three weeks as the only thing we ever met up for was to discuss something or go out for something to eat. Naruto, Sakura and I met up a few times for some simple taijutsu practice, but other than that we haven't done any training. During the excessive amount of free time allotted us, Naruto and Sakura introduced me to their friends in other teams. Everyone welcomed me warmly, and I've gotten to know them better as we would sometimes meet up with them to hang out or spar.

Today, however, that free time seems to be coming to an end as Kakashi has told the whole of Team 7 to meet up for training. I don't know if I should take this seriously. When he told us, he didn't seem too enthusiastic about it, but then again, he never seems enthusiastic about anything. Anything except those books he's always reading... That man never ceases to perplex me.

Anyhow, as soon as I am dressed and ready, I go to our designated meeting place to find Sakura and Naruto sitting there seemingly bored, and Kakashi is nowhere to be found. I approach my teammates and plop down in the grass next to them, leaning back on my arms as I briefly examine the field we are currently in.

"Late again?" I ask, already knowing the answer to my question.

"As usual," Sakura replies, squinting up at the bright morning sky as she sighs. Naruto leans over, holding his stomach as he groans in complaint.

"I skipped breakfast so that I wouldn't be late," Naruto whines before falling into his back. A silence falls over us, and I start stretching as I sit out of boredom, figuring that it'd be better if my body was prepared for a training session. However, as time passes, I find that there aren't enough stretches for the amount of time on my hands. Just as I come to a resolve to see if Sakura or Naruto want to spar, our beloved sensei shows up.

"Good morning, everyone," Kakashi greets cheerfully as he approaches us. Naruto sits up, narrowing his eyes at Kakashi. Naruto seems to mentally debate whether or not it's worth it to file a complaint with Kakashi, but decides against it. We all slowly get up and surround Kakashi. "Alright. Let's just spar for a bit to warm up." Sakura and I pair up and begin fighting as Naruto and Kakashi also fight at a distance. After a while, Kakashi calls us back. "Sakura has asked me to help her with something in specific, so Asami, you and Naruto will be training together for today. You can manage yourselves. Just don't... KILL each other." I laugh and nod, then Kakashi and Sakura walk off somewhere. I then turn towards Naruto.

"Okay," I say smiling, and Naruto grins back. "Do you want to train right here, or...?"

"I'm guessing you don't," Naruto says, and I smile at the ground. Guilty as charged.

"Well, if you didn't mind I'd like to go in the wooded area to train," I say.

"Okay," Naruto says, "I'm cool with that." He then turns and leads the way to the surrounding woods. He walks until the woods grow denser, then turns around. As soon as he turns, I lunge at him with my kunai, wasting no time in trying for the upper hand. Naruto, surprised, immediately pulls out kunai of his own, exclaiming in surprise as my attack nearly has him on the ground.

Before long he grounds his stance, although I still spar with the upper hand. The intensity of our fighting grows quickly as Naruto throws shuriken here and there, with which I repel with my own shuriken. He soon summons a shadow clone, and by its movements, I can see there's a density to its presence; it's not just a diversion. Seeing this, I decide to temporarily retreat and jump into the branches overhead, then back away some, gaining some distance. I don't have shadow clones, but I do, however, have the ability to create illusions.

I scope out Naruto's position and create a plan. He isn't too far from me, and he's facing away from my general direction. I perform the hand seals for my replication jutsu and focus on the space directly behind Naruto. One of the perks of manipulating light and sound waves is that I can hear and see every illusion I create, but I _know_ they aren't real because... well, because I _created_ them. I'm still at a level of uncertainty with this technique, but I'm growing more stable in my ability to perform it.

A smile graces my face when I hear the rustling of leaves near Naruto and see what seems to be myself descending from the trees directly behind my companion. Naruto immediately turns around and swings, and I control my supposed body like a puppet, having her dodge all of Naruto's advances. I slowly lead Naruto to where I can launch a surprise attack, having him follow my illusion. When he stands nearly directly underneath me I concentrate my chakra in my fingertips, then silently drop down when I see the purple glow of my chakra. I land on Naruto, knocking him onto his back so that I'm straddling him. My hand is immediately on his head, my chakra pouring into his body; I want that clone jutsu.

Within a few seconds, I find what I wish for and withdraw my chakra, a new air coming about me as I recognize in my mind the clone jutsu. Right underneath me, Naruto groans, and I'm about to make a smart remark when he suddenly disappears with a poof. My eyes widen before I realize that that had been his clone. Well, two can play at that game.

Before anything, I search for chakra signatures to find Naruto's position. A deadly silence settles around me as I listen and look for even the slightest inconsistencies in the air, and after a short while, I sense a presence behind me. I quickly summon two clones before going into attack mode, turning around to find Naruto already rushing at me to attack. I jump back as my clones go on either side of Naruto. In turn, Naruto summons two clones as well to cancel out my force. As the clones fight it out, I throw multiple shuriken with chakra strings attached in Naruto's general direction. Most miss, and Naruto dodges the others, but it's intended as I weave the shuriken through the air around Naruto using the chakra strings. One might compare the way I manipulate the shuriken to fly fishing, as the ways in which either are conducted look very similar. However, they are totally different considering that: 1) I am not fishing, and 2) I am using multiple shuriken, not just one. If anything, it may seem as if I'm using multiple fishing rods, that is to say if I were fishing.

That's besides the point. Anyways, I have eight shuriken, four connected by string to my fingers on each hand by which I manipulate them. Naruto does well to avoid getting tangled in them while putting up a mean offensive, but it's not long before I entrap him. It started with one catching his arm, and as it slightly handicapped him, I took that opening and managed to get him up against a tree, my chakra strings binding him to the tree. As soon as he's trapped, I use replication on him, immediately approaching him and putting my fingertips to his head.

Something is wrong, though; I can't see his memories to search through them. It's just..._black_ . After a second or two I know it's useless and retract my chakra, stealing some of Naruto's along the way. As the chakra enters my body, I know something is wrong. I stumble back, feeling oddly off. Suddenly, a searing pain spreads from within my body, and it feels as if my entire being has been set on fire from the inside out. The pain is so intense, I can't even manage to use my limbs. My body hits the ground as my vision goes black, the burning sensation swallowing me whole.

···

I'm floating in darkness... it's actually quite relaxing. I don't know where I am or how or why I got here, how long I've been here or any of that junk, but it doesn't concern me right now. All that matters is this warm, comforting darkness. As I float, a falling sensation begins to take over, but I don't fret over it. Wherever I fall is where I shall fall; end of story. After falling a while, I'm plunged into deep, warm water. The water obscures my vision, and although I hold my breath at first, I let it go to find that I can breathe just fine under this water. I swim to the surface and see an orange glow in the distance, so I seek it out.

I get into a nice backstroke and see the orange glow coming closer when suddenly I'm pulled underneath the water. I gasp and try to free myself to see who my captor is, but panic when I find that I can no longer breathe under this water. After fighting against the pull, I briefly escape with just enough time to get a gulp of air at the surface before I'm pulled back under. I manage to turn around and face my captor to find an enormous fox. Something I find to be odd is that the fox has multiple tails... Nine tails, to be precise... Is it really...?

My heart begins pounding as my brain constantly repeats "I'm screwed" over and over in my head. I turn back around and try to see how far up is the surface as my oxygen supply is running low. I don't even care anymore; I desperately fight against the pull to get any closer to the surface. Suddenly, I see a person dive into the water directly above me, swimming towards me. As the person comes closer, I make out the details to find that it's Sasuke who is coming to my rescue. Sasuke is not the first person I'd want to come and save me, but right now I can't really complain if anyone comes to save me.

When Sasuke is face to face with me, rather than trying to free me from my captor, he gives me a half smile before turning away. In a panic, I reach out and grab the back of Sasuke's shirt. He stops swimming, and after a second slowly turns towards me. In a moment, my hopes of being survived are replaced with utter despair and fear as the face that turns towards me is none other than that of Lord Orochimaru himself. I want to fight, but I can't even breathe! Hot and cold courses through my body with my increasing heart rate as Orochimaru closes in on me, and all I can do is scream.

"Asami!" I wake with a start at the sound of my name, my body instantly flinging into an upright position. A sheet of perspiration covers my skin, and I look around at my surroundings with heaving breaths, still trying to differentiate between fiction and reality. I begin to relax when I realize that I'm no longer in danger of the snake man or the tailed beast. I lie back down and try to calm my breathing, observing the white walls and white sheets on this white bed... Am I in a hospital?

"Asami?" The voice beckons to me again. "Are you okay?" I look to my left to find that Naruto is at my bedside, and has apparently been awaiting the moment of my awakening.

"Naruto," I say, almost subconsciously to find that my voice is rather hoarse. My body aches as I cough violently, and Naruto seems to panic for a second while he lightly past my back. When I stop coughing, I lie on my back with a groan, my head and body aching. "Am I in the hospital?"

"Yeah," Naruto says as Kakashi walks in.

"Why?" I ask, keeping my voice at a whisper as not to trigger another horrible coughing attack. "What happened?"

"I'm not exactly sure," Naruto says, a tinge of guilt tainting his voice.

"Lady Tsunade will be here on a little bit to check on you," Kakashi says, "and she can explain it best then. I just know that while I was training with Sakura, I heard you screaming. We rushed over and found Naruto bound to a tree, nearly passed out, and you were on the ground just screaming, but you weren't responsive. So we brought you here."

"Did I ever stop screaming?" I ask with wide eyes, none of this registering in my memory.

"Well, you did after a while," Kakashi replies. "You stopped before we brought you and Naruto here, which was a good thing... I thought I told you guys not to kill each other."

"We're still alive..." Naruto says with a chuckle, rubbing the back of his head. Just then Tsunade walks in.

"Oh, good," she says as she sees me, "you're awake, Asami. How are you feeling?"

"Sore," I reply. "And hungry. Can I have some water?"

"Sure, after this," Tsunade replies. She comes to my bedside and does the routine checkup before pulling a stool next to the bed and sitting down. "Kakashi, do you want to get her some water?" I want to laugh as Kakashi gets up, but my throat won't permit me to. Tsunade continues as Kakashi hands me my cup of water. "You're well enough to be released today, but take it easy. Okay?"

"Yes, Lady Tsunade," I reply, pausing before continuing. "Can you explain what happened to me?"

"How much do you remember?"

"Well, I just remember passing out while I was training with Naruto," I say. "I had this really horrible burning sensation in my body."

"Yes, that happened when you took in Naruto's chakra," Tsunade explains. "He has two chakra types, and you, unfortunately, had a taste of the bad one. When they brought you here, we had no choice but to extract all the chakra since it had infused itself with your own chakra. You've been out because of the lack of chakra in your system, but I'm just a bit surprised that you've nearly recovered over night."

"All the better for me," I reply.

"It is," Tsunade says with a smile. "Well, that's all for now. Any other questions or anything?" I shake my head after thinking for a second. "Okay then. Make sure to get rest. Just treat this like a common cold; consume lots of liquids and such. Alright, goodbye Asami; Kakashi and Naruto." She nods her head towards the males before stepping out of the room.

"Let's get something to eat," I say right away, and Naruto chuckles.

"Well if you can handle yourself from here, I'll be going," Kakashi says.

"I can," I say, and Kakashi nods before striding out of the room.

"I'm down for some ramen if you are," Naruto says, and I smile, nodding.

I check out from the hospital, Naruto helping me walk as I have a slight limp. We stop at the Ichi Raku ramen shop, but after a while I decide I want to go home and rest. Of course, being the nice person he is, Naruto walks me and carries my ramen for me. We stop in front of the door to my flat on the fifth floor, and Naruto leans on the railing behind him.

"Is there anything you need help with in there?" He asks, and I smile. He's so courteous.

"No," I say. "I think I've got it from here. Thanks Naruto. I'm fine, really. I just need some rest."

"Alright," he says. "I'll come back tomorrow morning to make sure there's nothing you need."

"Naruto," I say, chuckling, "you don't have to do that."

"But I want to," he replies, and I smile at the ground.

"Well, I suppose I can't stop you from doing as you please," I say, and Naruto smiles.

"You should rest, now. I'll see you tomorrow." With that I open my door, and we wave goodbye as I enter my home. No longer very hungry, I place my leftover ramen in the fridge. It'll get soggy, I'm sure, but I honestly don't mind. I'm too tired to care about that right now. I go to my bed and lie down, almost immediately falling asleep.

Once again, I'm surrounded by the warm, floating darkness that plunges me into water. A fear of meeting the tailed beast or the snake man again washes over me. I focus my chakra in the soles of my feet and hands so that I can climb out of the water and stand on it. When I look around, I find this time not an orange glow, but instead a person standing in the distance, and I almost immediately recognize that it's Sasuke. Seeing as there is nothing else to do and nowhere else to go, I walk over to Sasuke, constantly checking under my feet for one who might try and pull me under.

I finally reach Sasuke, and he turns around as I approach him. As I draw nearer and nearer to him, my heart beat speeds up and memories flash by. When I stand directly across from him, I'm unsure of what to say, but he doesn't say anything either so I suppose it's okay. After a while, he takes my hand and pulls me under the water with him, and I let him. We continue sinking further and further into the water, staring endlessly into each other's eyes.

Then, gravity suddenly takes effect and cool air hits my body, and I'm shocked as my wet body hits dry ground. I look above me, and the water seems to be held in place above me. I stand up and see Sasuke is still holding my hand. He looks at me before turning around, staring pointedly at a person in the distance. He turns his eyes to me again before walking in the direction of the person, and when we get close enough, I'm able to see the person is Orochimaru. I then stop, and Sasuke stops as well, feeling my hand tugging on his. He looks at me expectantly as I debate on whether I want to follow Sasuke to the snake or if I want to leave. Sasuke shrugs before letting my hand go and continues heading towards Orochimaru.

"Sasuke, wait," I beckon, but he doesn't stop, doesn't even turn around. I hear my name called from behind me and turn around, startled, to notice that Team 7 is standing at a distance, calling me over. I turn back and see Sasuke, still walking towards Orochimaru. "Sasuke! Please, wait!" I begin calling his name, my throat tightening up as he nears the snake man, and I run towards him. "Wait! We can go back, together! Please, stop!" I run faster, panting as hot tears roll down my cheeks, a heavy dread weighing down my heart as Orochimaru holds Sasuke in his clutches. Only then Sasuke turns to face me, his face devoid of emotion.

Orochimaru pulls out a kunai, holding it close to Sasuke. A shot of hotness courses through me as I see this, and I yell to warn Sasuke, but he ignores my calls. I can't stop... I can't let Orochimaru kill him... I have to save him! Then, the blade is pulled across Sasuke's throat, and I can't reach him in time. His lifeless body drops to the ground, and I drop to my knees in despair as agonized cries rip free from my throat. Then there's the calling of my name, over and over again, filling my ears and my being. I don't want it. I scream "no" over and over and over again.

My eyes suddenly open to a very frantic Naruto. He's bent over me and stops calling my name when he sees that I've awaken, looking down at me with wide eyes. The pounding in my heart won't reside, and before I can control myself, the tears force themselves from my eyes. I curl into a fetal position, and when Naruto sits on the edge of my bed to embrace me, I welcome him by grasping the front of his shirt while sobbing. After a while I make myself stop crying as I feel Naruto shouldn't have to do this for me. I'm not sure if he really wants to comfort me or if it's simply out of pity, but either way I don't want him to be bothered by me.

"Naruto?" I mumble after a minute.

"Yes?"

"Why are you in here?" Naruto chuckles before answering.

"Well," he begins, "I came here like I said I would last night to check on you, and when I knocked, I heard you... You sounded like you were in pain or under attack... I don't know what, but your door was unlocked, so when I heard that I came in."

"Oh," I say, pausing for a second. "Sorry for scaring you."

"Its fine," Naruto replies. "You didn't scare me. I just was confused for a second. Don't worry about it." I nod and retreats from Naruto's embrace, sitting upright on my bed. "Asami... what happened?"

"It's nothing," I reply. "I was just having a bad dream, is all. I'm fine, though."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Absolutely. It happens." I smile at Naruto just to try to reinforce my statement, but he seems reluctant to accept it.

"Alright..." he says, getting up. "Well, you should eat something."

"I'll just eat my ramen from last night," I say, my stomach suddenly growling. Oh yeah, ramen sounds pretty good right now. I look up to see Naruto's face twist with disgust.

"Won't the noodles be soggy?"

"Yeah," I reply. "But that's okay."

"Ew. Whatever suits you, I guess." I laugh at Naruto's demeanor before getting up. Naruto chats with me as I eat and get dressed, and we eventually leave my place.

"Are we going to train or anything today?" I ask as we walk down the road.

"No," Naruto replies. "Since you're still recovering from your injury, Kakashi decided not to do anything until tomorrow. He and Sakura will train, but he turned me loose to help you." I'm about to reply when Sakura suddenly appears.

"Hey," she greets, "Lady Tsunade has called us together for a meeting." Naruto and I both nod our heads and Sakura speeds off. We head in the same direction as Sakura and arrive to the meeting. When the whole of Team 7 and a few others such as Shikamaru and Kiba stand before Tsunade's desk, the meeting begins with the authoritative voice of Tsunade.

"Alright," she begins, "we have been informed of the presence of Uchiha Sasuke near the outer walls of the village, and it's likely that he's been within the village walls recently." My heart begins pounding immediately, and I do my best to quell my unusual heart rate. I glance at the rest of Team 7 to see Sakura with a fiercely determined face, and Naruto has a similar expression.

"_Within_ the village walls?!" Kiba exclaims incredulously, leaning forward some as if he can't believe his ears.

"We aren't completely sure," Tsunade replies to Kiba, "but it's a high probability. Either way, we can't let this opportunity go. I'm sending you all on a mission to pinpoint the location of the radical and take him into custody, inflicting as little damage as possible to him."

"Wait," Naruto objects, "the 'radical'? Take him into custody? What are you talking about Grandma Tsunade?"

"Naruto, Sasuke is a rogue ninja," Tsunade says tiredly. "He's a traitor of this village, and I can't help that. Continuing with the mission, I've readied Anbu to accompany you on the mission-"

"Grandma Tsunade," Naruto cuts her off, "we don't need Anbu to get Sasuke."

"Naruto," Tsunade says softly, but he continues.

"I mean, he's not just my friend; he's a friend to all of us!"

"Hey, Naruto-"

"We can't treat a fellow shinobi of the Leaf like this!"

"_Naruto!_" Suddenly, Naruto stops talking as he is surprised, along with everyone else in the room. Tsunade sighs heavily while rubbing her temple, then says the next words very slowly. "This isn't a rescue mission anymore."

((Hellooo! Thank you for reading everyone:3 I know I can be really bad at updating my stories, but I'm really trying to commit to this haha. It's not that I like DETEST writing or something; I love it. That's the reason I do it haha. But it's not always easy to keep up with this when I have, oh I dunno, SCHOOL everyday. Well thanks to the one person who reviewed so far:3 I'm not sure about anyone else, but reading reviews is just like "WOW! Ego boost! I'm going to update this story asap because someone loves it!"._. Eh. That's just me. Well, forgive any of my minor typos;-; I'm kind of scared of rushing the story... I feel like I might run out of ideas, but... either way. Thanks again for reading! I really appreciate y'all^.^))


	4. Chapter 4

I was told to stay in the village to fully recover as the rest of the nin pursued Sasuke. When they left, I went back to my flat to rest. I was tired and my mind was on Sasuke. He was in the village recently? Then it could've really been him that I saw that one night...

No. I'm done with Sasuke and Orochimaru, with anyone associated with the snake. Sasuke chose to stay with Orochimaru. That's his problem, now.

My day is full of unwanted thoughts of the boy with black hair, and the sun sets all too quickly. My night is filled with even more restless thoughts of seeing Sasuke even once more, and I toss and turn until I can finally allow the darkness to take me over. However, even my sleep can't block out Sasuke. He haunts me in my dreams, always finding me and leading me to an unknown place before leaving me for Orochimaru, and each day and several times during each night, I awaken from the terrors. I can't stand it, and although I want nothing to do with Sasuke, I can't help wishing for his well-being, hoping he's alive and well and that Orochimaru hasn't killed him.

After three days, Naruto, Sakura and the others return from the mission. It is evidently a failure, as they lack the missing nin they set out for. I meet Team 7 whenever they finish their meeting with Tsunade. It's obvious that my teammates are upset with their failure, their faces downcast as we slowly walk down the road. After coming to our parting ways, Kakashi speaks up.

"You guys take the rest of this day off," Kakashi says. "We'll meet up tomorrow." There's a silence before Kakashi disappears from our sight. The three of us left continue walking until Sakura, too, says parting words and leaves me with Naruto. She smiles warmly at us, but I can see the pain in her eyes. I watch her back as she disappears from my sight. As Naruto and I walk, I glance at him a few times, and he smiles at me each time, immediately after going back into his solemn state. I assume that he's walking me home when he walks beside me even after walking past the road he takes to his home. We walk in silence until we come to my door. We face each other in silence for a while before I decide to speak up.

"Naruto-"

"Asami-" Naruto says at the same time as me, and we both immediately stop. I turn my head down and chuckle, Naruto doing the same.

"Oh, go ahead," I say to Naruto.

"No, no," he says, shaking his head with a small smile, "it's fine. You go first."

"Oh, well," I mumble, turning my head down again to hide my growing blush. I feel kind of embarrassed at what I'm about to request of him. Maybe it'd be too much of a burden, what with his sadness concerning his failed mission. "Actually, never mind," I say.

"Huh? What is it? Are you okay?" Naruto's face suddenly grows soft with concern as he steps closer to me to better view my face.

"Yeah," I say, backing away a bit. "I'm fine. It's nothing."

"Asami," Naruto says placing a hand gently on my cheek. I look up at his face. "You don't have to lie. What's wrong?" Again, I feel my face flush, and I look down and chew my lip as I try to form my words.

"Well, it's just that... I've been having these night terrors," I say, still unable to make eye contact with Naruto. I find this to be pretty embarrassing. "I'm kind of scared to... be alone. And I was going to ask if you'd maybe... I don't know..." I give up on forming words and play with the bottom of my shirt until I hear Naruto chuckle. I look up at him with wide eyes and am kind of surprised to see him once again wearing his brilliant smile.

"You don't even need to ask," he says. "Actually, I was going to ask if you needed some company. I'm not doing anything for the rest of the day."

"Oh," I reply. Wow, Naruto... I know he's upset, but he still is putting others before himself... "I mean, you don't have to like stay here with me during the day if you want... You could just come back when it's getting dark."

"Dusk isn't far off," Naruto says with a smile. "Besides, I already said I'm not doing anything. Unless you don't want me here..."

"No, that's not it!" I say, feeling greatly mistaken. "I just don't want to bother you too much."

"Heh, don't worry about that," Naruto says. I smile at his warm, welcoming demeanor, then turn around to unlock and open my door. We both walk into my humble abode, and he follows me as I walk over to my bed.

There actually is nothing separating the area where I sleep from the kitchen area; it's all just one big room, with my bed on the left wall and the "kitchen" along the far right wall, a foldable screen set up between the two areas. Somewhere between the screen and the kitchen lies my living room, which is really just a couch and a small television. We both sit on the edge of my bed, the silence from the walk still hanging over us. After a few minutes, Naruto again is the first to break the silence.

"So, you said you were having night terrors," Naruto begins.

"Eh... yeah," I say in response, turning to face Naruto. "For the past few nights."

"Do you want to talk about them..?"

"Actually, is it okay if we talk about it later?"

"Oh, yeah.. Sorry," Naruto quickly says, rubbing the back of his head.

"No, it's fine," I say. "We can talk about it later... It just kind of upsets me, is all."

"Yeah, I understand," Naruto says. I then turn my head towards my window to see dusk quickly approaching, turning the sky from bright blue to soft yellows and oranges.

"Come on," I say to Naruto as I get up. "Let's get something to eat."

"Please don't tell me were having soggy ramen," Naruto says as he stands up with me. He laughs as I turn and narrow my eyes at him, and my face also splits with a grin.

"No," I say pointedly, making my way to my refrigerator with Naruto following close behind. I swing the door open, browsing for something decent for dinner. "If you really must know, we will be having... How about shrimp fried rice?" I pull out the white and red box holding my rice for Naruto to see.

"Shrimp fried rice it is."

After we finish eating and cleaning up, it's well into he hours of darkness and I decide it's time to hit the sack. Naruto and I have been indulging in nearly drunken happiness, breaking into fits of giggles and laughter and leading aimless, silly conversations. I interrupt his laughter as I decide upon going to sleep.

"Hey, Naru," I whisper for some reason, and he immediately stops laughing, although his wolfish grin fails to recede, his eyes alight in amusement.

"What is it?" He whispers back, and I giggle before continuing.

"It's getting late," I reply, and almost as if on cue, a yawn clears itself from my throat. "I'm getting tired." Naruto seems to have remembered his forgotten tiredness, as he also yawns, covering his mouth.

"Yeah, me too," he says with heavy eyelids. We both then retreat to my "bedroom", sitting next to each other on the edge of my bed. We stare at each other in the newfound silence, dim moonlight pouring in upon us from my window. After a while, Naruto gets up. "Um... I'll just sleep in the living room. Where is your bathroom?"

"Oh, it's right over there," I say, pointing towards the back wall. Naruto nods, then leaves my sight. I see the glare of the bathroom light on the screen before the door closing eliminates it. I stay sitting on the edge of my bed for a few seconds before pulling back my covers and lying down underneath, fearing for the nightmares that will most certainly come tonight. Soon, Naruto leaves the bathroom, and as soon as I hear the door open, I sit up. He walks towards the front of my bed, then stops and looks at me. Although it's dark, I can still see his blue eyes, and I hold them in my gaze as I silently plead with him to stay with me. After what seems to be an eternity, Naruto finally looks away, and I nearly panic. "Naruto," I whisper, but stop when he comes toward me.

"Don't be scared," Naruto whispers as he takes me into his arms in an embrace. I wrap my arms around his back, grasping his shirt as if he might slip away if I don't hold on to him. "I'm here for you."

"Please stay in here with me tonight," I say, my eyes closed. "I don't want to be alone." Naruto embraces me a bit longer before letting go to crawl onto the other side of my bed. He removes his shoes and orange jacket so that he's in his fishnet tee and pants before laying down and facing me. Again, there's a silence as we stare at each other before I roll over so that my back is to Naruto and close my eyes. After a few seconds, Naruto puts an arm around my waist, seemingly reluctantly, and scoots his body closer to mine. I feel his face near the back of my neck, then his warm breath ghosting over my ear as he whispers.

"Is this okay?" He asks quietly, and I nod in response, placing my hand on his arm around my waist.

I soon drift off into a dark dream, only a floating sensation and darkness present. I realize that I'm dreaming when I begin to fall and see a certain black haired boy waiting for me, standing on the expanse of water below. This time, I decide to dive into the water below. It's warm when I finally enter the water, and I close my eyes in relaxation. My eyes are disturbed by a bright light suddenly shining down from above, and I open my eyes to find the source of light. It's coming from some place above the water, so I swim upwards, suddenly remembering the boy waiting for me on the surface.

I emerge from the water to find not a dark, wide expanse of water and black nothingness, but instead a meadow with tall grass, lit brightly by the sweet spring sunlight. Yellow and white flowers dot the vibrant green field with color here and there, and a soft breeze makes the grass seem to shimmer in the sunlight. I step unto the bank of the pond I'd just come from and examine my surroundings, searching for Sasuke. I walk further into the tall grass, walking about fifteen feet before nearly stepping on Sasuke.

"Sasuke!" I gasp, stumbling back as he gets up. "Gosh, you scared me half to death. I nearly stepped right on you!" Sasuke smirks, and I smile as he steps forward.

"Come on," Sasuke says, holding out his hand for me to take. I don't hesitate to take his hand, and what seems to be the slightest of smiles graces his face. A warmness fills my heart at this, and just like that he's turned around, pulling on my arm as he leads me somewhere unknown. "We don't have much time before he comes," Sasuke says.

"Before who I comes?" I inquire, but Sasuke doesn't answer. He gradually picks up his pace, each time urging me to move faster with him, and he eventually breaks into a run, his smile spread wide across his face. I can't help but reflect Sasuke's happiness, laughing and smiling broadly as he pulls me across the field and up various hills. Finally, he stops at the top of a particularly tall hill, turning and holding both of my hands very suddenly with a solemn face. I know something's not right.

"Sasuke," I say, concerned, "what's wrong?" He looks into my eyes and holds my hands tighter.

"He's almost here," Sasuke says immediately, ignoring my question. "He's going to separate us, but you can't forget me."

"What? No, nobody is going to-" My words are cut off by a loud rumbling that faintly shakes the ground underneath us. Sasuke then quickly jerks his head to either side, checking his surroundings, before hastily facing me again and pulling me closer. "It's time. He's going to take you, but keep me here. Asami, don't be scared. Remember me, always, and you'll find your way back." I see behind Sasuke that the fields in the distance are turning black and being blown away like ashes. My voice begins to choke up with fear and I feel tears of distress sting my eyes.

"Sasuke, I don't want to leave you," I plead. "I don't understand what's happening." Suddenly, I feel a tight yanking on the back of my clothes. It's not a person's hands yanking at me, but rather some strong force. I'm startled and pause as I try to process the feeling when there's another sharp tug at me, and this time it's enough to move my body. I stumble back from the force and feel my heart burn with dread. I try to reach to Sasuke, and he also holds out his hands to take a hold of me, but I'm once again pulled by the force away from my companion. A strong wind hits my front, and I'm instantaneously pulled off the ground and away from Sasuke. "No! Sasuke!" I cry out to Sasuke for help, but in vain.

"Asami!" Sasuke cries back anxiously. "Don't forget me! Find your way back!" The ground around Sasuke begins to recede as ashes, and I see him being pulled into the remaining ground.

"Sasuke! Sasuke, no! Sasuke!"

My body, hot and moist with perspiration, is flung upright as I am suddenly awaken from my dream. My breaths are heaving, and I turn to see Naruto is awake and in somewhat of a panic, sitting on his knees beside me.

"Asami! What the hell is happening?" Naruto exclaims. I turn my head down and catch my breath. It's still dark, but I notice from my window that nearly all the city lights have gone out, only the dim light of the moon providing a way to see. "What are you dreaming about?" Naruto asks after a minute. When I don't answer, he speaks up again. "You need to tell me about this. You were calling out Sasuke's name in your sleep. Why?" My heart jumps at this, and I turn to face Naruto. His face is hard in inquisition, yet soft with concern. How do I explain Sasuke to Naruto? Then, I decide that's it's finally time to confess to Naruto.

"Remember my first day here," I begin quietly, "when I was telling you about why Orochimaru picked me?" Naruto nods, and I slowly pull the glove off my left arm that I had on when I fell asleep. Finally, the three black teardrops are revealed to Naruto in full with the scrambled black symbols surrounding them. "I didn't tell you everything; the main reason he took me in was because... he gave me this curse mark. Sasuke and I... we have identical curse marks, except mine is on my wrist, his on his neck. I don't know... I mean, we were always close, but something happened that made us closer than average."

"What happened that made you closer?" Naruto asks.

"I'm not sure," I say quickly. "I mean... I just remember once, Orochimaru did this thing where I think he tried merging our powers or something... I don't even know. I hardly remember any of it. I just know that after that, Sasuke and I had this strange, almost intimate connection. It was like I could read his thoughts, and he could read mine. He would almost always be in my dreams. He never said so, but I think I was in his."

"But why is it that only _now_ you're having these nightmares about him?"

"I don't know!" I respond. "I'm confused, too. It's not like I asked for this." There's a long silence as Naruto and I sit there before Naruto moves, coming to sit next to me on the edge of my bed.

"There's something I haven't told you, as well," Naruto says. I face him in acknowledgement. "To be honest, pretty much every person in Konoha knows, but since you came here just recently..." Naruto then stands up and lifts his shirt. At first, I'm surprised, but then I see a strange circular mark on Naruto's stomach. "I have the kyuubi sealed in me. I'm able to use his chakra for powerful jutsu. That time we were training and you went to the hospital... that actually was my fault. The kyuubi acted on his own and gave you harmful and destructive chakra that only he could use." I look at Naruto's mark in surprise before looking back up at his face.

"I should've known you were a jinchuriki," I say. "The nine tailed fox... I suppose that would explain the whiskers on your face." I then yawn heavily, covering my mouth. "Let's go back to sleep." Naruto nods before laying back down with me, his arms again embracing me. I can't help but smile and blush at this, and after a few minutes of silence, I decide to speak up. "Naruto?"

"Yeah?" He answers.

"Why are you holding me so close?"

"Because you're warm. And I don't want you to be scared." After that I remain silent, my smile remaining on my lips until I fall asleep again.

((Otayy:3 so this chapter was pretty slow *sorry* but i just needed to add that bit where Asami and Naruto show each other their marks that plague them. So they're both broken people(: but I've already began the next chapter, so I shant be too long in updating/.\ I might've put the next chapter and this one if it didn't mean it would be such a long chapter. Also please be patient with me as I am currently updating another fanfic, my baby(x it would warm my heart if you checked out my other story, Envy if the Uchiha. And if you have me some votes on Wattpad! My Wattpad name is in my bio^^ Review! And thanks to all the lovely people who have followed and reviewed so far-3-))


	5. Chapter 5

When I wake up, Naruto is still deep in sleep, his arm around my waist. I sit up in my bed and examine the shinobi beside me, mapping out his features in fine detail. I notice strong muscles I didn't see before as I look at him, his chest and arms beautifully defined. His face is mostly buried in the pillow, his fluffy blonde spikes going in every direction. I smile as he slightly snores and snuggles his face into the pillow. He's so adorable...

Well, it'd be a shame to disturb such a peaceful slumber. I suppose I shall leave him for now and come back to wake him up when I have food. I get up as gracefully as possible to cause the least amount of disturbance, proud of only provoking a little roll from Naruto. I walk quietly into my kitchen and open the refrigerator door, browsing through my tiny selection for something decent to eat. I finally decide upon eggs and toast, something simple. I put the bread in the toaster as I begin the eggs, and Naruto approaches me in the midst of it.

"Morning," Naruto says tiredly from behind me.

"Morning," I reply, giving a quick turn and smile before again focusing on the eggs before me. Naruto comes closer until he's right behind me, peering over my shoulder.

"Isn't it usually the guy who cooks the morning after?" Naruto asks, and I hear the smile in his voice. I squint my eyes and quickly turn my head to face him, a sly smile deceiving my disapproving persona.

"The morning after what, Naruto?" I inquire, and Naruto laughs.

"After sleeping over, of course," Naruto replies, and I shoot another suspicious look at him before turning away from him once again to stir the sizzling eggs.

"Need any help?"

"No, I'm pretty much done," I say, then pause. "Well, you could take the toast out and put more in if you want more than one piece."

"Okay." Naruto then takes the toast out and puts one more piece of bread in the toaster before once again looking over my shoulder in silence. I remain focused on the eggs, pouring them out from the pan to a plate at the moment when Naruto is suddenly wrapping his arms around my waist from behind. At first it surprises me and I flinch, nearly dropping the eggs, and Naruto chuckles near my ear, giving me goosebumps. He holds me tighter and I smile, snuggling into his hug.

"Why are you hugging me?" I ask.

"I just feel cuddly right now," Naruto replies near my ear, making me shudder and laugh.

"Stop talking so close to my ear," I laugh. "It feels weird." Naruto chuckles again before replying.

"Good weird or bad weird?"

"Uhh... I don't know," I reply with a giggle. Did I seriously just giggle? Gosh, I'm so ridiculously girly sometimes. I mean, I can't lie; I'm really attracted to Naruto, his looks and his personality, but... I'm not sure if I want this so soon... I don't want to lead him on to reject him later... "Come on, let's eat," I say, moving out of Naruto's embrace. Just then his toast pops out so he grabs it, placing it on a plate.

We chat light heartedly as we eat breakfast, and afterwards Naruto helps me clean the dishes. As we chat, I suddenly remember that Kakashi wanted us to meet up today. I bring it up with a groan and Naruto is also disappointed in hearing the reminder. We get dressed and ready to go and are soon out of my home, heading at a leisurely pace towards our meeting place. After reaching our destination and waiting a surprising mere fifteen minutes for our sensei, Naruto and I pair up for sparring and split off from Sakura and Kakashi to train. For a few minutes we attempt to actually do as assigned, but end up goofing off every time we try to begin sparring.

"Stop being so weird!" I exclaim as I laugh with Naruto. This is the seventh failed attempt at training.

"I wouldn't be so weird if _you_ weren't being so weird!" Naruto says back in laughter. After not too long Naruto and I sit down, leaning back on a tree next to each other. I sigh with a grin on my face, ready to just relax right here for the rest of our training session.

"Let's just go," Naruto says.

"Huh? Go where?" I inquire.

"Anywhere," he replies. "Away from here. There's a market in the village that's opening for just a few days. People from different villages are gathering to sell their merchandise. We could go there."

"You mean ditch training?"

"Well yeah. You don't want to be here anyways."

"True... Alright. Let's go." I shrug then get up with Naruto, and we smile at each other before he leads me to the market near the center of the village. Naruto and I browse the booths, looking at the varied merchandise. As Naruto chats with one of the clerks, I suddenly spot a head of messy silver hair. My heart skips a beat, and I am quick to alert Naruto.

"Naruto," I hiss, tugging at his arm, and he looks down at me while chuckling. "It's Kakashi!" I point in the direction I saw our sensei, and Naruto's eyes fill with panic as he spots him. The silver head begins to turn in our direction, and I drop into a squat, pulling Naruto down with me. "Watch out! He might see us." Although there's the fear of being caught by our sensei, Naruto and I can't help the grins that spread across our faces. Naruto peeks up from behind the booth, then grabs my hand and pulls me up.

"Come on!" He says excitedly. "Hurry, before he sees us!" I giggle as Naruto leads me to another booth where we have a sufficient amount of cover. We continue running from booth to booth, the entire time staying where we have a view of Kakashi, but not getting nearly close enough to cause any suspicion, although it's highly likely Kakashi knew exactly where we were the entire time.

"Look," I say after a while, pointing again in the direction of Kakashi. "He's leaving the market."

"Do you want to follow him?" Naruto asks as a mischievous smile tugs at the corners of his lips.

"It's tempting," I say with a chuckle, "but we should escape while we can." Naruto nods before looking once again at Kakashi's back, then taking my hand again to lead me through the market. Before leaving, we pick up some sushi rolls to snack on. As the day turns to dusk, the sky slowly growing darker, Naruto and I decide on spending the rest of our time on the top of the Hokage Summit. We finish our food as we lounge on the Summit, watching as the lights of the village turn on one by one in response to the impending darkness. Our silence is complete as the red and orange palette of the sunset turns to black and sparkling stars dot the sky. After a while, I turn my attention to Naruto, and in response he turns to look at me also. A smile graces his face before he speaks.

"We should do this more often," he says, and I smile in return.

"Yeah," I reply, looking back over the village. "You know, the village is really beautiful at night. I could just... _look_ for hours and hours and still not be bored of the scene."

"Hm," Naruto hums in reply. I look back at him as he lies on his back, his hands behind his head, eyes on the sky. "Have you ever gone star gazing?"

"Once," I say as I join Naruto, lying on my back as well. Memories of lying out underneath the stars with a certain raven haired male flash by. There's a hot feeling in my chest at the reminder of the boy I left when I turned away from Orochimaru, but I shake the feeling as I continue and focus on the situation at hand. "But it was a long time ago."

"I don't think people really enjoy the stars," Naruto says. "It's impossible to see them with all the lights in the village."

"The lights have a beauty of their own," I say, and the conversation comes to silence. It's alright, though, because it's a comfortable silence. After a while, I hear Naruto sit up, and I look towards him. I sit up as he pulls something out of his pocket.

"I got this while we were at the market," he says as he hands me a small rectangular box. I take it and uncover it to find a ribbon adorned with charms. I look up at Naruto, surprised and unsure of what to say, and he smiles, picking it up to showcase it. "I got a silver ribbon because it kind of matches your eyes." He chuckles before holding each charm as he explains their significance. "It's a kunai, because you're a great ninja. This one is a flower, for beauty, because of your name... And this one is a bowl. It made me think of ramen." Naruto chuckles rubbing the back of his head as I laugh.

"It's beautiful," I say. "I love it. Thank you."

"I guess you can't really wear it on top of your gloves," Naruto says as he places the gift back in the box, "but... I dunno. I just wanted you to have something from me. Something meaningful." I cover the box again and place it to the side with a smile, my heart fluttering. Naruto can be so adorable sometimes. I look up to find him staring at me. At first I look away, but I notice his eyes are still on me, so I once again meet eyes with him. He has a smile that's slowly fading, and I can feel mine, too, fading. Our faces are getting closer, and the rapid beat of my heart won't calm down. I can't help feeling pain at the same time, being constantly reminded of Sasuke. I had the same rapid heartbeat when he leaned in to kiss me for the first time, the first person to ever steal my lips...

"Naruto," I whisper when our faces are hardly three inches from each other.

"Yes?" His eyes quickly dart from my eyes to my lips, and back to my eyes.

"Did you... ever have anything with Sakura?" There's a pause and a silence as Naruto draws away, and although it's kind of a loss to me, it's also a relief.

"No," he says after a few seconds. "I thought I loved her when we were in the academy together, and because she always hated me and loved Sasuke, it made me chase after her all the more. That all ended a while ago, though. She was just a childhood crush." I nod in understanding, Naruto and I both facing the village again. He suddenly laughs lightly, and I turn my head to the side to catch him in my line of sight, a smile growing on my face.

"What?" I ask.

"There was this one time when we were studying literature," Naruto says. "We were doing Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet at the time. For that assignment, everyone was to play a part, and somehow I ended up being Romeo, Sakura Juliet." I start laughing, remembering my days of drama and acting, when I strived for the part of Juliet but was beat by competition. "She had to kiss me." Naruto is struggling to get the story out as his laughter continues to stop him, and he gives up after the last sentence. After our laughter dies out, there's a silence, and I know Naruto is thinking about the moment we just had when our lips were so close together. I feel drowsiness begin to kick in as a yawn forces itself from my mouth, and in turn Naruto also yawns.

"Come on," I say as I stand up. "It's getting late. Do you want to walk me home, Romeo?" Naruto stands up with a smile on his face.

"But of course, Juliet," he says, and I laugh as he hooks his arm in mine to lead me away. As we walk down the dark streets and my flat comes into view, I suddenly decide to strike conversation.

"You know, I used to do some acting," I say.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I actually did Romeo and Juliet. I tried for the part of Juliet. I didn't get it, though."

"Oh, what? Why not?"

"Because there was a better Juliet."

"I refuse to believe it."

"Believe it." Naruto laughs, and I smirk although I didn't find it to be that funny.

"That's actually my catchphrase," Naruto says. "Ask anyone. I always say that."

"Oh," I say with a chuckle. By this time we've already climbed the stairs to my apartment and we're standing in front of my door. "Sorry to have stolen your saying. But hey, you shouldn't have let me. Now you're not allowed to use it."

"Hey, I'll use it whenever I want to," Naruto says with a playful smirk. "Believe it!" I then put a hand over my heart and gasp dramatically, afterwards turning away with my head down, pretending to cry.

"You've betrayed me, monsieur," I say with an accent, and I hear Naruto chuckle before he changes character.

"Ah, but it was you, madame," Naruto says, mirroring my accent, then suddenly grabbing my hand and pulling me so that we're face to face, "who has betrayed me." Just like that, we're intimately close, his lips so close to mine that I can even feel his hot breath ghosting over my own lips. His eyes burn into mine, and I'm drawn into his stare. Is he about to kiss me...? Again, I get the pounding in my heart, a dull pain coursing through my body with every beat. I panic and suddenly push away from Naruto with as much modesty as I can muster.

"I'm going to get to bed now," I say with a smile, and Naruto smiles back.

"Alright," he replies before holding his hand out as if gesturing for a moving vehicle to stop, palm facing me. I understand what he's doing and smile as I press my palm against his. "If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss."

"Good pilgrim," I reply, unable to stop smiling, "you do wrong your hand too much. For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, and palm to palm is a holy palmers' kiss."

"Oh wait," Naruto chuckles, and I blush at realizing the mistake we made before he even says it. "We were supposed to put our palms together here."

"This is why I wasn't Juliet."

"No, it's fine," Naruto laughs before clearing his throat. "Uh... I don't remember everything from here, but... Have saints not lips and holy palmers too?" At this point, I don't remember every single word in every line either, but I do my best.

"Ay, but lips used in prayer."

"Then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do." At this point Naruto and I both fall silent, and I feel the thumping of my heart is so much that even Naruto can hear it. We stare at each other with our palms still together, and Naruto leans in. Again I panic, but this time I don't pull away. I think... I think I want this. I really think I want to be with Naruto.

I try to quell the beating of my heart with the thought of kissing on stage and try to imagine I'm kissing an actor on stage as part of the script. It calms me down just a bit, and I close my eyes as I feel Naruto slowly lean in closer, his hot breath on my lips. I feel his lips gently brush against mine as if he's unsure of this, like he's hesitant. My heart beat has calmed down quite a bit, and I'm feeling really confident until Naruto's lips actually claim mine. He suddenly presses his lips against mine and I feel this odd warmness stirring in my chest, a feeling I remember only having with people who I actually really cared about. My heart pounds harder at that feeling, and I can't ignore the sting I feel at the memory of feeling this with Sasuke, but instead of that pain making me draw away, it makes me only want Naruto more. Before long our lips have parted, my forehead resting against Naruto's, our eyes closed and breaths a bit heavy.

"You've purged my lips of sin," Naruto whispers breathlessly.

"Then your sin is now upon my lips," I say back, vaguely remembering the lines of Juliet, my heart beating fast.

"Then give me my sin back," Naruto finishes, barely getting out the end of the sentence before hungrily pressing his lips against mine in a hot kiss. Without being fully aware of it, I remove my hand from Naruto's, grasping the front of his shirt as I ball both of my hands into fists on his chest. Naruto's hands are around my waist, pulling me closer as he kisses me more passionately.

I'm so absorbed in the moment that I don't remember to breathe until a burning sensation begins to cultivate in my chest. I quickly break away from the kiss as I puff out the breath I was holding and begin panting to refill my lungs with that sweet, sweet oxygen around me. Naruto obviously wasn't expecting an action as sudden as that and abruptly pauses before lining my jaw and neck with soft pecks, his breath coming out heavily against my skin.

Before long, Naruto and I have our foreheads against the other's again, eyes still closed as we breathe heavily, still trying to figure out if this is really a dream or reality. Then, Naruto again leans forward and captures my lips in his. I aggressively deepen the kiss, surprised at just how much I really longed for this, when Naruto pulls away.

"You should get to bed," he says breathlessly, still holding me with his eyes closed. I pause for a moment as I think over this, not wanting to stop this so soon.

"Yeah," I reply hesitantly. "You're right... It's getting late."

"It is..." There's a long pause as Naruto and I stand there in each other's arms, neither of us wanting to break away. "Goodnight." I feel like Naruto is about to pull away, and I almost desperately wrap my arms around his neck and pull him closer to me.

"I'll see you tomorrow, right?" I ask immediately, trying to prolong this moment.

"Of course," Naruto replies, and I hear the smile in his voice. I blush in a bit of embarrassment. After a few seconds, I speak up again.

"Naruto?"

"Yes?"

"Will you... kiss me again?" I hear him chuckle before I open my eyes and look up at his face. He smiles at me and I blush again. Stop blushing! Naruto then tilts my chin up and leans down, and I close my eyes before his lips capture mine one last time. This kiss is much more gentle, yet I get that warmness in my chest and butterflies the worst this time. Of course, Naruto is the one to end the kiss, following it with a peck on the tip of my nose and on my forehead.

"Goodnight, Asami," he says as he pulls away.

"Goodnight, Naruto." I watch him walk down the stairs and onto the street, and he looks up one last time at me to wave before I enter my flat at long last. Wow. I definitely wasn't expecting that to happen. I lean on my door for a while, thinking over what just happened, most of the time smiling like a fool to myself until I yawn and walk towards my bed. Right before I'm about to undress, I hear a very familiar voice behind me.

"So, you have a new boyfriend it seems." I gasp and turn towards where the voice came from, the identity of this person confirmed before I even looked.

Sasuke.

((Haha okay, I'm about 100% sure there's no Shakespeare in the ninja realm, but since I was recently doing Hamlet in drama and watched a different group perform Romeo and Juliet, I couldn't help but add that bit(x don't hate me for it;-; anyhow. Whoop whoop:3 Sasu finally appears! Next time on Take Care: The past between Asami and Sasuke is finally revealed! *narrator voice* Are Sasuke's intentions pure? Or is he jealous of Asami's newfound love with Naruto? Stay tuned to find out!))


	6. Chapter 6

Darkness... Darkness and the light of torches against carved stone walls... I was surrounded by foreign things, and my arm had this excruciating pain. The snake... He brought me here. He did this to me.

Too scared to even think straight, I hugged my knees to my chest and cried as I looked about me obliviously. Why didn't the pain stop? It wasn't a flesh wound; the pain came from inside, so there wasn't anything I could do about it. Then, the sound of footsteps.

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest in my surprise. I quickly jerked my head in the direction the echoing footsteps came from. My vision wasn't so clear, but it was obvious that this person wasn't the snake man. Still, this person must be allied with him, so I couldn't trust this person either. I watched as the figure drew nearer, the details being made clearer. He was just a boy, maybe twelve or thirteen years old, a couple of years older than I. He had a smug confidence in the way he walked; he acted as if he belonged here. Wasn't he afraid, too? Surely a boy couldn't belong here.

Too curious to shy away from the boy, I let him approach me. He stopped at my feet, and I didn't look up at him, expecting him to do something on his own. He just stood there. After a while, my curiosity got the best of me. I sniffed and looked up at him, wiping my tears so they wouldn't blur my vision. I still had a lump in my throat, and my eyes still produced tears, but they calmly slid out the corners of my eyes. The boy looked down at me, his black hair creating a bold frame for his fair skinned face, large black eyes examining me, uninterested. Something about him was... captivating. I sniffed once more and wiped the remainder of my tears.

"Who are y-" Before I could finish my inquiry, the boy reached down and grabbed my left arm. I flinched and tried to pull away, but he tightly grasped my arm so it couldn't be freed. His hand easily wrapped around my delicate, bony wrist, and he turned my palm so it was facing upwards. "W-what are you doing...?" He didn't answer, and I watched quietly as his fingers delicately traced the skin of my forearm. I noticed there three black teardrops I hadn't had before, but the boy seemed to show some recognition at the mark.

"It hurts," he said, not even asking. Confused, I slightly tilted my head.

"How do you know?"

"Your arm is red. It could be seen a kilometer away." My head sank into my neck at his response. He seemed so cold and calculating... The way he carried himself put me on edge. "Besides," he said after a few seconds, startling me, "I have the same one." I looked up, surprised. I immediately searched his arms, but found it to be vain since arm warmers covered the skin of his forearms. He then dropped my arm back to my side and turned, walking away. I wanted to call out to him, to know if I'd see him again, anything; I couldn't leave it at just that. "Sasuke," he said without turning to me. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion until he spoke again. "My name. It's Sasuke."

·····

"Sasuke."

"It's been a while, hasn't it Asami?" Sasuke... He's taller and more muscular than I remember. He walks nearer to me, but I back away.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke then stops where he is, looking at me as I prepare to defend myself. After a second, he laughs, but it's a bitter laugh.

"What, you've already forgotten me?" I look him up and down, my heart pounding in my chest. I can't back away anymore; I've reached the wall, my hand resting on a short shelf against the wall behind me. I shake my head.

"You shouldn't be-"

"You're the one who doesn't belong here," Sasuke cuts me off, and I purse my lips, looking down. Suddenly, Sasuke is right in front of me, and I knock over a few things on the shelf as I flinch and try to back further away. Of course, my efforts are in vain. Sasuke roughly grabs my chin and forces me to look up at him. My right hand immediately slaps over his wrist that holds my face captive, and I feel Sasuke wrap his free hand tightly around my left wrist. He lifts my arm and turns my wrist towards me. "I see Kakashi 'fixed' you, eh?" I look at the black scribbles around my curse mark and know Sasuke is referring to that. "It didn't do shit for me. Your weak leaf friends can't help you, Asami."

"Shut up, Sasuke!" I exclaim. "They aren't weak!" Sasuke scoffs and lets go of me completely, walking away. I rub my wrist and chin, the areas sore from he pressure put on them. I watch Sasuke's back as he slowly walks over to my bed and sits, facing away from me. I don't hate him... I just am acting like it now. "Sasuke," I say quietly after a few seconds, "you could just come back-" Sasuke turns his head and gives me a piercing stare, and that alone is enough to shut me up. I know it was useless and stupid to suggest, but...

"Orochimaru wants you back," Sasuke deadpans. "He sent me for that." My heart skips a beat, and I fear that tonight may be my last in Konoha. Before I can say anything, Sasuke speaks up. "Calm down. I'm not going to force you, even though he wants it."

"Won't he do something to you, though?" I ask, worried for Sasuke. He again scoffs.

"He can't touch me." After this is a moment of silence. Okay..? So what now? I want to approach him, but we aren't friends anymore. I have... I have nothing to do with him anymore. He has nothing to do with me. Sasuke then gets up, which startles me. He begins walking in my direction, and I panic. "Don't forget, Asami," Sasuke says calmly when he's stopped in front of me. He then walks towards my door. What? Forget what? He opens the door, and it's a bit weird because with the way he appeared to me, I'd have maybe expected him to like jump out my window or something. He stops before exiting, turning his head towards me. "You're still having dreams, aren't you?" He stands there for a second after as if waiting for an answer, but then just leaves without me saying anything. He even leaves my door open. How rude.

I close my door, then just stand there, processing what just happened. For a while, I even inwardly debate whether or not what just happened was a dream or not. Did it even really happen? I reach the conclusion that it actually did happen when I grip my left wrist and still feel a soreness from where Sasuke held my wrist.

This is too much for one girl. I'm just going to sleep it off. I lazily walk to my bed, thinking about the possibility that Sasuke might be watching me. It's not likely since its unnecessary, and he tends to stray from the unnecessary. I undress and lie in my bed, staring out my window. The shutters have been left open, but I don't feel like closing them. The village lights vaguely shine in through the wooden shutters, but beyond that I see are the stars glittering in the black night sky.

·····

What was he doing?

I'd been with Orochimaru for nearly a year, and Sasuke and I had gotten to be very close. Well, closer than anybody was with him, anyways. We always trained together, although we hardly spoke. Yet when we did speak, it was pleasant, even with Sasuke's calculating demeanor. I stood at the entrance of the Orochimaru's lair, watching Sasuke as he stood at a distance in the darkness of the night, back turned towards the hideout, his face tilted up towards the sky. I watched for ten minutes, waiting for something, anything to happen, but he just stood there.

What was he doing? I asked myself multiple times and wracked my brain for the answer, but none was apparent. After another ten minutes of watching Sasuke do absolutely nothing, I couldn't take it. I leapt out past the entry way and headed towards Sasuke, stopping about ten feet away from him. The space he stood in was open; nothing blocking the night sky. He knew I was there, but he continued staring up at the sky. A few times I looked up to see if I'd see what he was seeing, but it wasn't happening. He was staring at... nothing. I changed angles, standing where I could see his profile, and his lips were moving. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and I listened my hardest; I mean, he was only ten feet away. Yet I heard nothing. His lips were definitely moving, his eyes turned towards the black abyss of the sky, his body motionless as he whispered sweet nothings to the stars.

"Sasuke," I finally whispered, feeling as if I was interrupting some sacred ritual. His lips closed and his eyes immediately darted in my direction, although his face remained turned upwards. He didn't say anything, and I was afraid to say anything, but since he acknowledged my existence, I stepped forward, my nerves tingling with the excitement of walking on what felt like holy ground. I stood next to Sasuke, and he turned his face away from the sky. "What are you doing?" Instead of answering, he sighed and sat on the ground, so I sat next to him. He again turned his face towards the sky, but it wasn't in the dazed, lost, almost sad stare he'd had before. I also looked up at the sky, trying to see what he was seeing.

"You know," he said after a while, "I could never see the stars with all the village lights." The stars...? That's what he was staring so intently at? I glanced at Sasuke, then back at the sky. The stars... Suddenly, it was as if a veil had been lifted from my eyes. I felt as if my heart had frozen in a painful, yet amazing way. These tiny, sparkling dots glittering the midnight sky all over were... marvelous. It seemed that the more I looked, the more the stars appeared in new places. My breath hitched as I looked up into the stars. This was what Sasuke saw every time? But what were those words he spoke silently to the stars?

"What were you saying?" I whispered to Sasuke.

"What?"

"Earlier... You were speaking to the stars, but no words were coming out." Sasuke remained silent after this, his eyes on the heavens residing above us. It was somebody, I thought to myself. He must've been speaking to someone, somebody waiting for him in those stars, the only thing that connected he and whoever he spoke to in those late hours of night in secret.

And after that, nearly every night, he wasn't alone talking to that person who was lost in the stars. Even during the rainy nights, he stood there, staring into the dark clouds that poured their tears upon him without pity, even during the cold nights when the winds screamed mercilessly with their harshest, coldest, most painful breaths, and always on the clearest nights when the stars shone their splendid radiance upon the beautiful, broken boy who silently cried out to them every night. He needn't cry; the clouds did that for him. He needn't scream; the wind provided for them both. He needn't speak; the heavens searched his heart and showed him the one he longed for.

As faithful to the starry nights as he was, so was I to accompanying him to try and understand the stars and rain and wind as he did, although I couldn't. He knew their emptiness, but even he had me. It was our secret place; no matter where we were, as long as the stars shone there and the wind blew there and the rain poured down there, it was our secret place to be. And I longed to understand the heavens as he did.

Then one night, I heard it, and I understood.

I walked through the darkness to meet with Sasuke. He always got there first, and was always staring into the sky when I met him. I walked and I saw him from the entrance of the hideout, and I watched quietly as I had done sometimes. Something was different. He seemed... distressed. I watched more, and suddenly, he fell to his knees, his head back and hands grasping aimlessly and desperately at the air about him as he let out a loud, long cry of agony and loss, filled with grief and misery, making up for all the tears he could've ever cried but didn't, all the times he kept silent when in pain. The sound was terrible and beautiful and heartbreaking, and it filled my ears til there was no more to be heard. It hit me hard; I suddenly felt all his cry expressed, all that overwhelmed one as it welled up and refused to be expressed with words, but only in agonizingly beautiful screams that made the heavenly beings weep in sorrow.

I heard it, and I understood the wind and the rain and the stars, the excruciating emptiness that plagued them day in and day out, the anguish that filled Sasuke all night and day. I understood, and it broke me; I dropped to my knees in the incredulous pain I felt, my salty tears spilling out and dripping onto my hands and the dry ground, the same tears the heavens wept upon the earth and that blessed all touched by their tears. How could one live in this agony all day? For others to be blessed and feel joy at your expense, how could one bear it?

Sasuke turned and saw me, and I immediately got onto my feet, slowly making my way to Sasuke. I understood him... I understood him like no one else did, and he knew it. I didn't wipe my tears. I savored the bitter taste of the temporary anguish I felt, the empty pain I'd longed to understand for so long. And then it was no longer an aimless quest for me to stare into the stars, but I spoke to the one whose heart and soul travelled those higher beings in the darkest hours of night, in secret when all others were at rest; Uchiha Sasuke.

·····

"So, tell me again what happened?"

"I dreamed of Sasuke... He was in my room and asked me something I didn't understand." Naruto looks at me as I try to explain my dream to him. His eyebrows are furrowed, and his nose is scrunched up in the cute way it does when he's mad or confused. I awoke this morning feeling shaken, and I remembered my dream. I anxiously grab my wrist as I remember Sasuke had done in my dream, and I feel a dull pain. I gasp before looking down at my wrist, a dark spot upon my smooth skin. Wait...

"What did he ask you?" Naruto inquires, and I change my mind about telling him this. What was I thinking? I guess I was so dazed this morning that I actually believe that what happened last night was really a dream.

"Oh- never mind, Naruto," I say. "It was just a dream." Naruto pauses and examines my face before hesitantly complying.

"Okay... Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"Yeah, positive." He then sighs.

"Alright. Well then, let's go meet the team."

"Yeah." Naruto had met me at my door this morning. I, of course, invited him in, and he immediately swooped in for a kiss. At first, as I was startled, I backed away, but then gave him a kiss. And since I felt troubled, I told him about what I believed to be a dream. Now I know it's not a dream, but was an event that actually happened. If Naruto knew that Sasuke actually came and harassed me, how would he react?

Naruto is completely bold in our newfound relationship; he doesn't hesitate to take my hand as we walk, to flirt recklessly with me like some fellow drunk from happiness, and he even stops in the middle of our walk to pick a daisy he spots for me. He tucks it behind my ear and carries on, and I can't help but be amused by his actions.

Sakura is surprised to see us walking with our fingers intertwined, and she seems a bit irked to see Naruto flirting so much with me. We sit on the ground, Sakura, Naruto and I forming a triangle. When Sakura picks a small wildflower she sees and shows it to us, Naruto suddenly has the bright idea to go around and pick a bunch of them. Sakura and I watch, confused, as he scrambles around the field, picking small wildflowers with colors of white and yellow, a few bright green buds in his bunch. He then comes back and begins weaving the stems together to form one rope of linked flowers, and after closing the rope to make a circle, he has me bow my head as he places it gently on my head as a crown. With the leftover flowers, Sakura and I decorate Naruto's hair, and by the time Kakashi joins us, flowers are falling out of Naruto's hair and we're beginning on Sakura. We try to attack Kakashi, but he manages to escape us, flowerless and all.

We train as a group today instead of splitting into two man teams, and after we finish our training, Naruto and I split off to get dinner and afterwards hang out on the Hokage Summit. I'm a bit impressed by Naruto's transformation; in public, he seems to be a partner that's so clingy it's annoying, but when it's just us, it's totally different. He doesn't flirt recklessly and refuse to not be in contact with me at all times, but instead talks to me like an old friend, a very good old friend, yet is still intimate at the right moments. I enjoy every minute I spend with Naruto.

What we do during the days passing by vary from training with Kakashi to ditching to just chilling out, and of course, the first few days of our relationship are spent with us being very very close to the point where we makes our friends and most people near us uncomfortable and/or grossed out. The honey moon behavior cools down a bit after the third week of our being together, although we still act somewhat like a newly wed couple. Although what we do during the daytime tends to change, every night is the same; go together to the Hokage Summit and watch the stars.

After seeing Sasuke on that first night, I asked Naruto to stay with me on the following few nights, but even since those three weeks ago, I haven't seen any sign of Sasuke. In all honesty, since I saw Sasuke that night, I've been a bit anxious about seeing him again... I feel like he's in some kind of danger, like there's an impending danger threatening even me. What's even worse is that I keep having dreams about Sasuke, and always, always he's telling me that I have to be taken away, and that I have to find my way back.

As time passed, Sasuke's words to me began to make sense, but all at the same time, they made even less sense. "You're still having dreams, aren't you?" He asked me that, and I think it's because he knew I was dreaming... Was he trying to alert me or something? Maybe he was telling me to pay more attention to the dreams I have? While it seems to make sense, it makes absolutely no sense. They're just dreams! They're just dreams...

·····

"Oi, Asami." I turned my head to see Sasuke walking towards me in the bright sunlight. He tried walking casually, but when looking carefully, it was plain Sasuke still had a slight limp. It'd been nearly two weeks since Orochimaru had performed that strange and terrifying jutsu on me and Sasuke. I didn't even know what was supposed to be accomplished, but whatever it was failed. Badly. Sasuke and I were both injured, Sasuke worse than I, and since then, things between Sasuke and I had been a bit strange. We were closer somehow...

"Eh?" I turned my body fully to Sasuke as he approached me. We were outside for training today, standing in a field of well overgrown grass and bunches of wildflowers.

"Stop saying that. It makes you sound... illiterate. It's annoying." I smirked at Sasuke's disapproving aura.

"Eh? What do you mean?" Sasuke seemed to begin simmering in annoyance, and I laughed light heartedly. He was so easy to set off. "I'm just playing, Sasu-chan." Sasuke shot daggers at me with his eyes, and I laughed, although it was very scary. "Oi, clam down. You're going to give yourself a heart attack one day." Sasuke crossed his arms indignantly and turned his head away from me in a very glorified manner.

"Let's just begin." With that, Sasuke and I started training, and we trained through a good part of the day. By the time we finished, the sun was going down, and we were both spent. We sat on a boulder near the center of the field whilst we caught our breath, and as I watched the sun draw nearer to the horizon, I was suddenly reminded of a dream I had the night before. I laughed lightly to myself, and Sasuke very quickly glanced at me.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing. I just remembered my dream last night. You were in it." Sasuke smirked then.

"You were in mine." I was a bit surprised by this, as I was expecting Sasuke to maybe tell me to stop focusing on such childlike things or something of the like. Instead, he replied like that. I began telling my dream to Sasuke, and as I got further into it, he began to get a very troubled look. I was confused by it, but continued nonetheless. I came to a point where I forgot what happened, and I tried so hard to remember, but I simply couldn't.

"Sorry, Sasuke," I said, "I can't remember what happened after that, and it's bothering the hell out of me."

"Hn. After which part?" I narrowed my eyes slightly at him. Was he not listening..?

"Uh... After I set off the booby trap and you barely saved me."

"... I saved you, and then..."

"I think you used a jutsu..?"

"It was... chidori. I found the enemy and used chidori."

"Yeah! That's it! You did that, and then..." I suddenly stopped, just then realizing that Sasuke had told me the next part of a dream I had. How was that possible? I stared at Sasuke with wide eyes, and he gave me a distressed look, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Sasuke... How did you know what happened in my dream..?"

"I had the same dream..."

"What? Are you sure I didn't just tell you about this dream earlier?"

"Yes I'm sure, baka," Sasuke replied, irritated. I narrowed my eyes at Sasuke again. What a spaz.

"Okay... Maybe it was just a coincidence..?" We sat there for a while longer before Sasuke sighed and stood up, looking down at me.

"Hn. Let's just head back." I complied and followed Sasuke back to the hideout. The next day, I told him my dream again, and again, it was the same, and our dreams coincided the day following that, and even a week after. After so long, we couldn't deny that the scenario about our dreams was too strange to be coincidence. However, we agreed not to tell Orochimaru, especially since he was the cause of the situation.

Soon, I began to do some experimenting. It wasn't much, but instead of mindlessly following whatever happened in my dreams, I began to control my actions... I soon was able to take full control of myself in my dreams, and still, Sasuke and I shared dreams. At first, our dreams were about meaningless things; just aimless adventures or battles or something of the like, never having any objective. After some time though, each dream began to have a similar objective, and as the nights passed, the danger keeping us from the objective grew in power and made it impossible to reach that objective. And always, the danger would separate me and Sasuke.

"Do you think it's a sign?" I asked Sasuke one day. We were out in the fields again to train. Because of how the dreams developed, Sasuke soon forbade speaking of the dreams while in the hideout.

"They're just dreams," Sasuke replied.

"Sasuke, don't tell me they're 'just dreams'," I said. "I know you've never had dreams like this, where you shared them with another person, and each night they shared and emphasized a common goal." We walked in silence for a bit longer, sitting down when we came upon the boulder that had become ours.

"Then what do you think?" Sasuke asked quietly. "That they're what, telling us about the future or some crap?" I bit my lip as I carefully picked my words in my head.

"Well," I began slowly, "I don't think it's telling us of the future... I just thought... Since there's the same purpose in every dream, and that person is always keeping us from it, that maybe the objective that has to be retrieved is an actual object. You know, in the real world. Maybe it's telling us to go after that." There was another long silence, and since Sasuke wouldn't talk, I decided that I might as well. "I think the danger is real, too. The person keeping us from that objective? He's real."

"Okay, then who is that person?" I bit my lip again. It sounded so bizarre, and Sasuke might not accept it. But it was worth a try.

"Orochimaru."

·····

My dreams have been bothering me for too long. I've been having them every night, always the same thing. It's gotten to the point where I can't just ignore them anymore. I began to get Naruto involved not too long ago, and I always tell him my dreams and he records them looking for a common trend. One thing that's significant is that always, always Sasuke tells me to find my way back to him.

It seems to work Naruto, my dreaming about Sasuke so much, and especially that the dreams always tell me to go back to him. I might not be so understanding of Naruto if the dreams didn't make me want to seek out Sasuke... Every dream makes me more anxious to find the raven haired boy and be in his presence, know he's okay and well. Since the dreams were getting to be so much, I finally decide to tell Naruto about Sasuke visiting me.

"Naruto," I say, catching the blonde's attention. He stayed over last night, and I just finished telling him my dream.

"Yeah?"

"There's something I haven't told you..." I bite my lip as Naruto's eyebrows stress on confusion. He slightly tilts his head, leaning in closer to me.

"What is it?" My eyes dart away from Naruto onto the ground, and I play nervously with the hem of my shirt.

"About a month ago... On the night when you and I kissed the first time... Sasuke, he was waiting for me in my flat."

"What?! What did he want?!"

"He said Orochimaru wanted me back, but he wasn't going to force me to go."

"And you didn't tell me? You didn't tell anyone?"

"I was scared!" Naruto slaps his hand on the table as he stands up, sighing in exasperation and rubbing his face with his hands. "I'm sorry, Naruto... I just didn't know how you'd react..."

"Well what did you expect? He's a rogue ninja, Asami! Don't you know he's dangerous?"

"I already know that, Naruto! But I knew him before! He's different than he was..."

"I knew him before too! That doesn't make him any less dangerous. God, what if he'd hurt you, huh?! Or if he tried to kill you? Damn it, he could've taken you back to Orochimaru that very night! What then?"

"I don't know!" A lump forms in my throat and tears sting my eyes, threatening to spill forth. I rest my elbows on the table, leaning over with my head in my hands. "I don't know..." Naruto has gotten very quiet, and I know he's looking at me. He sighs once more before I hear his feet pad in my direction, and in a second he's gotten on his knees, hugging me around my waist. I accept his hug and wrap my arms around his head, my chin resting on his soft blonde spikes.

"I'm sorry, Asami," Naruto whispers. "I just don't want anything bad happening to you."

"I know, Naruto," I whisper back. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I won't do that again."

"It's fine." I then place my hands gently on the sides of Naruto's face and pull him away from my embrace, looking at his tired expression. He looks into my eyes and smiles almost sadly, and I return the same smile before leaning down and placing a kiss on his forehead. He then takes my left hand in his and presses my palm to his lips. All is forgiven. That's what that says. All is forgiven...

That night, as custom, Naruto and I lounge on the top of the Hokage Summit. I lie with my hands under my head, staring dreamily at the twinkling stars above. Sasuke... I know that somewhere, he's staring up at the same stars I am, speaking to them, whispering words not to be heard by anyone but the hosts above. Without even being fully aware of it, I move my lips silently speaking as I'd seen Sasuke do so long ago. Wherever he is, he will know that my heart longs to see him.

"Asami." I'm startled to hear Naruto next to me, although he'd whispered so quietly. I was so lost in the stars that I'd nearly forgotten his presence.

"Yeah?" I whisper back, turning my head to look at Naruto laying down right next to me.

"Who are you talking to?" I smile in guilt before looking back up at the dark skies.

"So, you caught me." Naruto chuckles.

"Is there someone you really miss..?"

"Sort of... I think he's lost."

"He..?" Naruto pauses, and I swallow in guilt. Naruto probably wouldn't be so happy if he knew I was talking to Sasuke like this every night. "You know, it's okay if you miss Sasuke." My heart jumps, and he continues. "I mean, I miss him too. I understand, though; you were close. It's not bad if you miss him..." My cheeks burn in embarrassment, and I can't help feeling like Naruto is at least a little bit bothered by this.

"Naruto," I say as I turn to face him, but he cuts me off with a chuckle.

"It's fine, Asami," Naruto says as he reaches out and gently strokes my cheek with his thumb. There's a long silence, only the wind and nighttime insects disrupting the silence, as Naruto and I stare at each other. "You know," Naruto whispers after a while, "I stopped watching the stars a long time ago."

"Why?" I ask with a chuckle.

"Because," he says, "you were right next to me."

·····

"I have a bad feeling about you going on this mission." I looked at Sasuke as he said the words, then quickly strode to my room door, closing it. I then walked back to where we could whisper and still hear each other.

"Why? What's wrong, Sasuke?" There was something different in his eyes. He always had an uninterested look in his eyes whenever talking about nearly anything, but this time, he had something alive behind those black spheres, something bad.

"Do you even know why Orochimaru is sending you on this mission?"

"Does it matter?"

"Do you?" I paused, looking into Sasuke's fiery eyes before looking away.

"No..." I replied reluctantly, and Sasuke sighed heavily. "Why does it even matter?" I looked back at Sasuke's eyes for an answer. He stressed his eyebrows, and I could tell that he didn't want to answer that. "Well...?"

"It's the dreams," he answered, and other couldn't believe it for a second. "You had them, too; the danger, you saw, it always separate us."

"...So? I mean, I thought they were 'just dreams', right? Are you saying that me going on this mission is going to cause that?"

"You said so yourself; they aren't just dreams. And you even told me that the danger was Orochimaru. Doesn't that make you the least bit suspicious about this..?"

"No, it doesn't, Sasuke. I'm just being honest, here. I'll be back before you know it. I mean, I can't just say I don't want to go, anyways. I'm going whether I like it or not. Orochimaru's orders." I then placed my hands on the sides of Sasuke's face. "Don't worry so much," I whispered. "What's gotten into you, anyways?" Sasuke looked down at me for a few seconds with his normal, uninterested expression before he suddenly leaned down and pressed his lips against mine. After my second of surprise, I returned the kiss Sasuke gave me, his hands wrapping around my waist as mine found their place around his neck. He'd claimed my lips for the first time about three weeks earlier. The relationship between he and I hadn't changed between the day of our first kiss and that night three weeks later; the kiss simply said that we both had stronger feelings established in our hearts than what had been established outwardly.

"I don't like this," Sasuke said after the kiss ended.

"It's fine," I said, still in his embrace. "Stop worrying. It's makes you seem like you actually care." Sasuke narrowed his eyes at me, and I laughed. "That's more like it." Then, I pulled away from his embrace, fixing my clothes on myself. "I've got to go now. Orochimaru wanted me gone by now." Sasuke sighed, watching my back as I left him alone in my room.

·····

"Wait! She's just a girl!"

"Yeah, a girl who just infiltrated the village." The young male again raised his hand to bring down the kunai on the unconscious girl, but a jounin came and grabbed his wrist tightly before he could strike the final blow.

"We don't murder in this village. She's unconscious and no longer a threat; we're taking her to the Hokage." Two shinobi then hoisted the girl from the ground, carrying her along as her feet slightly dragged on the ground. She'd just been taken out by a small explosion, and she was barely alive. The jounin who saved her examined her face briefly as they made their way away from the sight where the explosion took place. She was very young, and the way she was acting, she couldn't have been under her own full control. Even when she'd fought him up close, she had a dead look in her eyes that just wasn't right.

Seeing the curse mark she bore on her left wrist, he guessed that she must've been with Orochimaru. Did he place her under some kind of mind control jutsu? That crafty snake... He probably did. The jounin sneered at the thought. Orochimaru disgusted him, and it was just wrong that he'd use a young girl to carry out his dirty work. Hopefully the Hokage could help her...

((Sooo the past has been finally revealed! Very sorry about the wait... I got stuck on my other fic, but the latest chapter is finally out:3 Hard to believe I started writing this chapter just yesterday, though... Please excuse any minor grammatical errors I may have made! I have big plans for this fic, it's just kind of hard to go from one point to another sometimes haha. Well... I hope you enjoy this chapter everyone:3 Please if you have time check out my main fic, Envy if the Uchiha. It would make me very happy Haha(x alsooo please leave your opinions! If you want to criticize, then let it be constructive. The flames you fan for another will devour you, someday.

((Please check out my WattPad! Give me some votes, eh? My username is in my bio, it's kPoochie01.

((Reviews give me super writing powers! Haha thanks for reading))


	7. Chapter 7

_Blow your sweet breath on us like the wind, pour your warm tears on us like the rain, shine your radiance upon us like the stars; always aching and alone in your emptiness, yet always giving in abundance your blessings and love to the ignorant. Only then can you understand the pain they feel._

It's been almost four months since Naruto and I have been together. Four months since I last saw Sasuke...

My dreams have been as relentless as ever, and I know Naruto is getting tired of it. He doesn't say anything since I really have no control over them, but it's obvious the way he feels about them. As if that weren't enough, I can't help but feel irked by Naruto's commitment to his promise to Sakura. It's happened five times in these past four months that Naruto was called to go on a mission because Sasuke was nearby and they had a chance at bringing him back. That wasn't the part that got to me; it was when at one instance I asked him not to go, and the reason he gave for having to go was this:

"I have to bring him back no matter what. I promised Sakura..."

I didn't say anything after that, and he knew it upset me. He tried to apologize for it, to understand why it upset me, but I just told him to go, so he left for the mission. That was two weeks ago, and ever since, things have been a bit tense between us. We've tried to act normally, but it simply hasn't happened, and even Sakura noticed, but she's the last person I want interfering.

"Are you sure everything's okay?" She'd asked. "You guys seem... upset..." I remember her words as I lie on my back, staring at the ceiling as lie on my bed. It's dark and I should be asleep, but I can't help simmering in anger at her words. She doesn't really know why I'm upset, and I know she doesn't know, but I still prefer not to have knowledge of her existence right now. As I simmer in my dull rage, there's a sudden shift of air, and almost immediately I know what's caused it.

"What are you doing here?" I ask as I sit up to see Sasuke standing at the foot of my bed. I should be surprised to see him, or at least startled, but I'm not. Sasuke smirks before crossing his arms in a casual manner.

"It seems you've been expecting me," Sasuke says smugly. I sigh and cross my legs, resting my elbows on my knees with my hands under my chin.

"Why are you here?" I repeat, and there's a slight pause.

"Same reason as last time."

"I'm not going."

"Says who?" I then falter, my heart skipping a beat. Sasuke walks to my side of the bed and I immediately scoot back, getting off to stand on the opposite side of my bed. "Do you think this bed is going to separate us?" Sasuke asks with a scoff, and before I can track his movements, he's in front of me. He grabs my right arm around the wrist and spins me around, forcing me down as he twists my hand between my shoulder blades, but I manage to twist out of it and catch Sasuke across his cheek with my left elbow. His grasp on my wrist loosens, and I yank my arm away as I make a desperate attempt for my door, but Sasuke again has me trapped before I'm even halfway there. I could fight him, but I know I'm no match for him.

"Are you really going to do this?" I ask with a heavy sigh, looking into Sasuke's eyes. He stares back for a second too long, and I know he isn't. When it's made clear to me, I scoff and take a step forward, pushing him out of my way as I make my way back to my bedside.

"Asami," Sasuke says, "I know what's happening between you and Naruto." My blood suddenly runs cold, and I glance at Sasuke. "You should've known from the beginning it wouldn't work out. It was obvious."

"Oh, really? How do you know it won't work out?"

"You're still in love with me." My heart pounds as heat rises in my chest, anger pouring into my system. I would love to slap him. He smirks as he makes his way closer to me. "You don't want to admit it, huh? But you know it's true. I bet even Naruto knows." By this time, he's in my face, taunting me with that smug expression.

"I'm not!" I exclaim, and I don't try to stop myself from swinging at him. Of course, he catches my hand around the wrist before it strikes him. "You don't know anything, Sasuke! I never loved you!"

"Stop lying, Asami," Sasuke says calmly.

"I never did! I only love Naruto, and we're going to make it work because he loves me, too!"

"You're delusional if you really believe that." Sasuke lets go of my wrist and turns his back to me, walking away. "You never loved me, eh?" He turns to look at me, standing at my door. "You don't really believe that, do you?" Of course I don't answer, and Sasuke leaves.

I stare at my door for a while after he's left, feeling the anger stirring inside. My eyebrows are stressed as a lump forms in my throat, tears stinging my eyes. I lay down as they spill onto my cheeks and soak into my pillow, and I know that what Sasuke said is true. I'm still in love with him...

The next morning, Naruto knocks at my door. I immediately answer, and he seems a bit surprised by it. He looks down at me and he opens his mouth to speak, but I rush forward and hug him before any words come out, and I begin sobbing. Naruto freezes for a second in surprise, then wraps his arms around me.

"Asami? What happened? Are you okay?" After a few seconds, I pull away from Naruto and take his hand, pulling him inside and closing my door. "Asami..?"

"Sasuke was here last night," I say. Naruto immediately looks my body up and down.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

"No, but he almost made me go back to Orochimaru."

"He put his hands on you?"

"... Kind of..." Naruto steps forward, filling the gap between us as he again embraces me tightly, and I don't hesitate to return the embrace, grasping his jacket tightly.

"We need to tell Grandma Tsunade." I falter slightly, immediately objected to it.

"Wait, Naruto," I say, and he looks down at me. I tilt my head up to see his face.

"What is it?" Naruto asks. I turn my gaze away from his eyes in guilt, biting my lip. I look back up at him, and the concern in his expression turns into frustrated confusion. "What are you-" He doesn't finish his sentence, searching my face desperately for an answer, and he gets the one he doesn't want. His face turns down as he pulls away.

"Naruto, wait," I say, stepping forward as I try to keep him in my grasp, but he rejects my efforts.

"No, Asami," he says, stepping back. He stares at me for a few seconds in silence. "You still love him, don't you?" When I don't answer, he scoffs and looks away from me, beginning to pace.

"No! I don't-"

"Don't even lie!" Naruto exclaims, sighing heavily as he faces me again. "Why do you still love him?" I look down to the side, and Naruto steps forward. I look up again and take a step back, finding that there's a wall behind me. "Help me understand Asami! I've been here with you! Not him! I'm the one who loves you, not him! Why do you still choose him?! He's done NOTHING for you!"

"Neither has Sakura for you!" Naruto suddenly pauses, looking at me in confusion.

"What?"

"You know what I'm talking about. You still love Sakura-"

"Don't try and turn this against me."

"It's true! Every time, it's always 'I promised Sakura', and I can't stand it!" At this point, tears begin flowing from my eyes again. "You're not the only one feeling frustration, Naruto!"

"Do you expect me not to feel frustrated when I find out that you're still in love with someone else?"

"I already said I'm not! What about you, though?!"

"God... I don't love her!"

"You're a liar!" Suddenly, in a burst of rage, I bring my hand down on Naruto, slapping him across his cheek. Silence fills the room as I breathe heavily, Naruto's face turned down. Then, he looks up, and my heart skips a beat as he pulls his fist back. "Naruto, wait!" I press my back against the wall and turn my head down, squeezing my eyes shut. Then, his fist lands.

I open my eyes and see that Naruto is leaning over me, his arms on either side of me against the wall. I then turn my face up, seeing that Naruto's head is hanging between his shoulders. My heart beats rapidly, and I'm confused as I don't feel any pain on my face or body. Naruto drops to his knees, and I hear a crumbling sound to my left. I quickly turn my head and see a hole put through my wall, bits and pieces falling out as Naruto's fist is removed from it.

"I love... YOU, Asami," Naruto says slowly, his head still turned down. I stare at the top of his head, and suddenly he turns his head up, and I'm surprised to see tears running down his cheeks. After staring at each other for a while, I lean over and put my arms around Naruto's head, and he unhesitantly wraps his arms around my legs, leaning into the embrace. "I love you," Naruto says again, his voice slightly muffled by my shirt.

"I love you," I reply, suddenly getting choked up again, hot tears streaming down my cheeks. I stand there with Naruto knelt down in front of me for an unaccounted for amount of time, but it's enough that after we move, my body is complaining from being bent in one position for that long. Mine and Naruto's tears have long since dried, and I turn my gaze up to meet his eyes when he stands in front of me.

"Sorry about your wall," Naruto says after a long silence.

"No," I say immediately. "Don't apologize for anything... You shouldn't be sorry..." Naruto stares down at me, and after a second, leans in and kisses me, his hands wrapping around my waist. I close my eyes, grasping the front of Naruto's jacket and returning the kiss. Almost immediately, he deepens the kiss and slides his tongue between my lips, and he reaches down and suddenly picks me up. As his kisses begin to move down from my lips to my neck, I can only think one thing: make-up sex.

Suddenly, I think I feel a rumbling, and Naruto stumbles back, exclaiming before he falls on his back. I sit up and find that I'm straddling him, and I look about myself in surprise, afterwards looking down at Naruto to see him looking up with wide eyes.

"You okay?" I ask, and he nods. "What was that?"

"I dunno," he mumbles. We both wait for another rumble, but nothing happens, so Naruto puts his hands around my waist and pulls me down. "I guess it was nothing," he whispers, pressing his lips once again to mine. As we get comfortable again, there's another rumble, this time more obvious. Again, we stop, looking up in surprise. Another large rumble follows shortly after, and immediately, Naruto is pushing me up. "Get up, Asami," he says. "Come on, we have to get out of here right now."

Just as I open my door, Naruto following closely behind and rushing me out, another rumble throws me against the railing, Naruto also being thrown onto me. "Run!" Naruto shouts, pushing me towards the staircase. Other people are also coming out of their apartments, some of them exclaiming at the strange shaking, and people are beginning to dot the streets. Suddenly, a violent rumble causes the building to crack, and the railing for the staircase comes undone. People scream as we are all thrown in the same direction and onto out knees, every one scrambling to get onto their feet and onto solid ground before the railing brings them all down.

Naruto keeps pushing me forward as the railing falls, and all those dotting the streets run in fear of being crushed by falling debris. The ground now is constantly shaking, causing another building nearby to begin crumbling. My apartment building is now crumbling away, large chunks falling, a few people being victimized underneath the rubble. I see the ground coming closer, and I know that we won't make it off before we hit the ground. I also know that it'll hurt when we hit the ground.

"Naruto," I say, pulling his sleeve, "we have to jump." He looks at me then at the ground before holding my hand and nodding.

"Ready," he says when it gets close enough. "... Now!" He pulls me off with him, and we both fall when we land, the ground too unstable for us to keep our balance. I turn my head and see the railing crash, many people being crushed underneath. A few manage to wiggle their way out and pull some loved ones with them, but the others are either already dead or can't free themselves. Suddenly, there's another large cracking sound, and I look up to see a boulder size chunk coming loose from the building.

"Naruto," I say, getting up and pulling him with me. "Look!" He turns and widens his eyes when he sees the large chunk about to fall. Many smaller pieces rain down beside it, and we try to dodge the biggest ones.

"This way," Naruto says, pulling me with him whilst trying to dodge the falling debris. There's a rather large piece about to fall and block off Naruto's path, and I feel Naruto falter as he quickly weighs his options. Before even a second has passed, he runs forward at full speed, trying to beat the falling chunk. As we near the rock, the end is inevitable.

"Naruto," I say as he pulls me along with him.

"No, we can make it," he says, but when we get close enough, Naruto stops. The rock falls in front of us just as we stop, and it's obvious we would've been crushed if we kept going. Naruto then begins pulling me in the opposite direction, running and dodging the falling rocks. I see the boulder sized chunk come loose, and it begins falling in what seems like slow motion. Naruto runs even faster, and suddenly, the ground gives a sharp shake that throws both Naruto and I to the ground. I quickly get up and begin pulling Naruto to his feet when a fist sized rock falls and hits him on the head. He falls back down, holding his head.

"Naruto!" I exclaim, pulling his free hand. "Come on! We have to move!" He again attempts to get up, but with the shaking ground and his dazed state, it's nearly impossible. He gets to his feet and stumbles forward a bit before letting go of my hand. My balance is suddenly thrown off as I was pulling on him before, and I fall forward. I groan before looking back at Naruto to see a piece of debris the size of a small log fall on him. "Naruto!" I rush forward and see the blood from the rock that hit his head, and he's unconscious.

I begin to panic, not wanting to leave Naruto, but knowing that I should get away from here. I make an attempt to get up, but before I can get up, a rock hits my side and knocks me down, and another hits my head shortly after. I fight through the pain to keep away the darkness, but it soon swallows me whole.

····

"Hey, look! She's waking up!"

"Is she?"

"Yeah! Her eyes are opening, see?"

"Well, I guess I'll get the doctor." Then, the sound of footsteps softly padding away, and a door opening and closing.

Those are the first things I hear as I awaken. Fuzzy white blotches come through my vision, and suddenly a spot of fuzzy pink as I hear a familiar female voice.

"Asami," the voice says, "you're finally waking up." My vision begins to clear a bit, and I'm surrounded by familiar white walls and a monitor next to me, the constant beep of my heartbeat being recorded. I look down at my arm and see the I.V., then look up to see Sakura's face coming through the haze.

"Sakura?" I mumble, then see the door behind her open. She looks back and we watch as a man in a white doctor's cloak walks in with a clipboard, followed by Kakashi. "Kakashi Sensei?"

"Yo," Kakashi greets, and his eyes scrunch up so I know he's smiling. I chuckle weakly before trying to sit up.

"Woah, woah," the doctor says as he rushes forward, gently pushing me back down. "Eager, aren't we?" He smiles warmly at me, and I know something is missing from this picture. I look around the room. There's Sakura's pink, Kakashi's silver, but where's the other piece...? It suddenly hits me as I look about worriedly.

"Where's Naruto?" I ask, looking at the faces of my companions for an answer. Sakura looks down, and I see the doctor's head drop as well. "Kakashi Sensei? Sakura? Where's Naruto?" I begin to get a bit hysterical, my last memories coming through, seeing a bleeding and unconscious Naruto be crushed beneath a rock. Tears well up in my eyes and my voice gets choked off. Is he dead? Why aren't they answering?

"Asami," Kakashi says as he steps forward, and somewhere behind the closed door of this room an alarm goes off, and shortly after there's the sounds of rushing feet and shouting voices. "Naruto is okay..." I look at Kakashi as he steps to my bedside, the words processing. The first tears run down my cheeks, and I grab Kakashi's sleeve as more tears follow.

"I want to see him," I say, suddenly throwing off my sheets. My legs feel wobbly, but they aren't seriously injured; only a few scrapes and bruises. The doctor again rushes forward, pushing Kakashi behind him as he again pushes me down.

"You need to calm down, Asami," the doctor says firmly, and after a second of thinking, I relax, laying back down. "Thank you. Now, you have a minor concussion and a couple of bruised ribs, but you're very fortunate to have such minor injuries. Others... weren't so lucky. However, you need to stay rested until you fully recover, okay?" The doctor looks intently into my eyes, and after a second, I hesitantly nod, lowering my gaze. The doctor then smiles in relief, and he holds out his hand. "I'm Dr. Furiyama, by the way." I take his hand as I note his features. He has neat brunette hair that's been a bit ruffled, showing he's been running around this hospital, and he has kind brown eyes and a tired yet perfect smile.

"When can I see Naruto?" I ask.

"When you're able to get up," he says with a chuckle. "But Naruto... He's still unconscious... He's badly injured, but he's been stabilized. He should be okay and wake up in a few days at least." I take a shaky breath before nodding once again, the doctor looking at me with a concerned smile. He takes my hand and gives a reassuring squeeze before getting up. "You're a very lucky girl, Asami." He gives me a smile before turning and walking out, leaving me with Kakashi and Sakura.

"Have you guys seen Naruto yet?" I ask after a few seconds.

"I did," Sakura says, and I look at her expectantly. "He... he doesn't look too bad, although he's hurt pretty badly..." There's a silence as I look down, Sakura and Kakashi looking at me. Then, Sakura smiles. "You heard the doctor, though. He'll be just fine!" I bite my lip, all the memories of the disaster coming back into mind. I feel Kakashi's and Sakura's eyes on me, and after a second, I look up with a smile.

"Yeah."

The next four days pass by very slowly, the same thing happening every day. Sakura and Kakashi visit in the morning, as some of the other nin come in scattered patterns, and I have to lie in bed all day. During the night, although I've been told to stay in bed, I get up and go to the window and look out at the partially devastated Konoha, the rubble of what used to be buildings in piles here and there. Cleanup efforts are being made, but progress seems to be so very slow.

The entire time I'm in bed, Sasuke keeps coming into mind. The more I lie, inactive, the more tempting the offer to return to Orochimaru seems. "You're the one who doesn't belong here." That's what Sasuke said, and it seems to ring true. Maybe I do belong in Orochimaru's lair... Maybe Konoha isn't for me...

Finally, after the fifth day of my recovering, I'm discharged. Kakashi and Sakura pick me up so we can go out and celebrate with some lunch, and afterwards, I come back to the hospital to visit Naruto. It's quite a long process, what with all the injured civilians still in the I.C.U. and all the visitors, but a nurse finally comes to lead me to Naruto.

My hands shake slightly as I walk behind the nurse, afraid of what I might see. Is he forever mangled? Is he still all in one piece? God, I hope so.

The door is opened, and the nurse makes way as I walk through the opening. The curtains are pulled, letting the light of the sun come in, the shadows beginning to loom. I see Naruto on the only bed in the room, all wrapped up in bandages, laid flat on his back, his eyes closed. I slowly approach his bedside, noting some of the discoloration of his skin where the bruises are the worst. He's gotten paler, and he seems thinner, his lips chapped.

I swallow hard and hear the nurse edit and close the door, and I drop to my knees next to Naruto's bed. I take his cold hand in mine and stare at him for hours until the sun is setting, watching how his lips sometimes part, his eyes rolling around beneath his closed eyelids, his chest slowly rising and falling with each breath he takes. A couple of times, I feel his hand twitch in mine, like he wants to grasp my hand as well, and I try to imagine what he's dreaming.

When the sun emits lights of red and orange into the room, dim light as the shadows grow, I speak my last to Naruto.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," I whisper quietly, staring at his whisker marks and chapped lips and blonde eyelashes. "I can't stay here... I'm going back to Orochimaru. I don't belong in Konoha." I sigh and pause for a second. "You'll be fine without me. I'll always have a piece of you, so I'll never forget... Thanks for being so kind to me... For welcoming me... For being my friend..."

My voice begins to choke up, and a tear quickly slides out of the corner of my eye, opening the doorway for the tears following. I then lean over and kiss Naruto's forehead, my knees and back complaining from the inactivity and hard floor. I get up and let go of Naruto's hand, taking off my Leaf headband. I hold it in my hands, feeling the weight of the metal, the soft black cloth, remembering the joy I felt when Kakashi first gave it to me. Then, I fold the cloth underneath the metal, placing it on the stand next to Naruto's bed.

"I love you," I whisper, taking one last look at Naruto before turning and leaving. As I exit, I hold my left wrist, making out the details of the charms of the bracelet Naruto gave to me. This bracelet, this silver ribbon and three charms is all I will have left of Konoha besides my memories...

I have nothing to gather; everything went down with my flat, and it's nearly all the way dark. There's no reason to stay here any longer, nothing keeping me back, so I head out of the hospital and towards the outskirts of the village where nobody is. I sit down on a bench and relax, tilting my head back to watch as the stars come out.

I wish I didn't have to belong to anybody. I want to just roam free, not worrying about alliances or enmity, just wandering about as I like.

_Blow your sweet breath on us like the wind_

I get up and finally head out, exiting the walls of Konoha without a trace.

_Pour your warm tears on us like the rain_

The night passes, and I stop at a small village along the way for some chow.

_Shine your radiance upon us like the stars_

After eating, I head back out into the forest, not at all tired and wanting to continue.

_Always aching and alone in your emptiness_

At the pace I'm going, it should be only a couple of days until I make it to Orochimaru.

_Yet always giving in abundance your blessings and love to the ignorant_

Another day passes with minimal stops, and I take some rest when the nighttime comes again. When the sun rises once again, I head out, nearly there.

_Only then can you understand the pain they feel._

It's getting dark again when I reach the entrance of the lair. My heart drums in my chest, and I sigh heavily. Well, no going back now.

I walk into the so familiar entrance, my footsteps softly padding and echoing. By this time, I'm sure Orochimaru is aware of my presence, and Sasuke probably is too. I head towards my old room by instinct, and I stop when I stand before the door. Slowly, I reach out to turn the doorknob, then abruptly pause. Sasuke...

I turn around, and I see Sasuke and Orochimaru standing right behind me, Sasuke with a smirk on his face. We stand in silence for a while, measuring each other up. Then, Orochimaru breaks the silence.

"I see you've made your decision, Asami," he says, his raspy voice sending chills down my spine. I nod hesitantly, my eyes flicking from Orochimaru to Sasuke, then back.

"I've come back, Orochimaru-sama," I say quietly, and a smile spreads across his face.

"I knew you would," Orochimaru replies. I look down in the silence, and after a second, I hear Sasuke speak.

"Hn." That damn Uchiha grunt. "Welcome back, Asami."


	8. Chapter 8

((Oh god. I am way overdue in updating this... I'm so sorry everyone! Honestly, there is so much chaos around here these days... So, I may be flying out from Hawaii to the mainland in the winter, so if that happens, I won't be updating during that time, about three weeks. Just a heads up. Even though it takes me that long to update anyways. Thank you for patiently waiting! On top of chaos, I've had writer's block... But music helps to get me out of that^^ Piano music really helps me concentrate._. If anyone is ever doing homework or writing or something, listen to some Kingdom Hearts music on piano. It's very serene~ I'd recommend Hikari, Dearly Beloved, or the Kairi theme. The Roxas theme is nice too~ Meh. Kingdom Hearts is just my very heart and soul, so. I'll be the one to tell you that every single aspect of it is GREAT.

((Also, one thing. I was too lazy to go ahead and switch out the all caps words for italicized words, so just imagine they're italicized and not in all caps. Anyways. Enjoy!))

One day, two days, a week finally passes as I'm with Orochimaru. Time seems to pass by so slowly, each night slower than the one before it, yet it still goes by so quickly. It couldn't have already been a week... Yet it feels like it was months ago that I returned.

Every day is close surveillance from Orochimaru's servants, missing Naruto and Konoha, and strange looks from Sasuke. At first, I hung my head as I made my way around the hideout, but then I began to look around. Everywhere I went, Sasuke seemed to be there. Even now, it seems his presence never leaves me. I often look up and see him staring at me, and sometimes he quickly turns his gaze away, other times staring still as we burn holes into each other with our eyes.

Sasuke...

I think I really can say I hate him now. But all at the same time, I want to run into his arms and hug him tight and kiss his cheeks in all the joy at being reunited with my old friend. It's so confusing. I want to hug him out of compassion, but then squeeze him so tight he chokes and dies. Oh, how conflicting, the urges to kill him and love him at the same time.

Being back is a bittersweet experience. Everything is so familiar, and it feels so right, but then so many things remind me of Konoha. Orochimaru hasn't seemed to take notice of my bracelet, and even if he did, he probably wouldn't figure out that it means something to me. Even so, I know Sasuke notices it.

Honestly, it's bothering me so much the way Sasuke is acting. He doesn't ever speak to me, but he looks at me as if he has a million words to say. Sometimes I get so mad that I want to get up right there and slap him across the cheek, even if it is a bit uncalled for.

Finally, today, I restart my regular daily training. I'm surprised that Orochimaru allows me to train outside of the hideout on my own for my first time since being back, but I make no objections. All this morning I haven't seen Sasuke, which confuses me, but I carry on nonetheless. I make my way out of the hideout, walking towards the old field Sasuke and I used to go to nearly everyday.

As I begin to daydream, I'm suddenly pulled into reality as a pair of strong arms abruptly take me from behind, one covering my mouth as I exclaim in surprise. I'm pushed against a tree with the hand still covering my mouth, and I am in all confusion as I look up to see Sasuke standing over me, his body close to mine as he keeps me against the trunk, his head turned up and eyes scanning our immediate surroundings. I try to remove his hand from my face and I begin to shout muffled obscenities at him as he keeps me trapped, but I'm silenced when he turns his gaze down unto me.

"Asami," Sasuke says smoothly, "shut up. I have my hand over your mouth for a reason." Indeed, he says it so smoothly that I actually comply, becoming caught up in his deep black eyes, the way his black hair seems to make his skin glow. I feel the pressure be relieved from my lips and cheeks, Sasuke's hand still firmly grasping my shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing, Uchiha?" I narrow my eyes in a glare, and Sasuke seems a bit surprised.

"I need to talk to you." I don't even waste a moment as I try to push past Sasuke, but I'm immediately pushed against the tree again. I turn an angry glare up at the Uchiha, trying once again, more aggressively, to escape, but Sasuke overpowers me.

"Just let me go!" As I try valiantly for the last time to escape his clutches, hot lips are suddenly pressed down against mine, my eyes opening wide in utter shock. Sasuke tightly holds my wrist against the tree, his other hand just below my neck, the bark of the tree pressing into the skin in the back of my neck and shoulder. These things would normally bother me, but they are all forgotten as all my breath escapes me, my eyes closing as I'm pulled into Sasuke's kiss. God, how I've missed his embrace and his lips on mine, the look of annoyance as he knits his eyebrows together, and those lonely... sad... bright blue eyes...

Then, I'm pulled into reality. My eyes again go wide, and I gasp sharply, suddenly freeing my wrist from Sasuke's grasp and pushing him away in a sudden burst of strength. I look at him, and I go through a moment of confusion before my chest grows hot in anger.

"What are you doing?! Why are you kissing me?!" My eyebrows stress, and everything he'd said to me, everything he'd done while I was in Konoha come back to me. "You can't do that, Sasuke! You can't act that way and then just assume it's okay to kiss me!" Tears of anger well up in my eyes and run down my cheeks. Sasuke just stands there, obviously a bit surprised, but not showing any expression on his face or saying anything at all. It's like he expected this. Just looking at him makes me more livid. "Don't you have anything to say?"

Still, he's silent. I step closer, shoving him in the chest, telling him to say something, anything, shouting in anger. He tries grabbing my hands a few times, but I pull them away and just push him again, each time harder than the last. Finally, as I reach out once more to lay my hands on Sasuke, he grabs both of my wrists and forces me against the trunk of the tree once again.

"Let me go!" I yell, struggling against my constraints, but Sasuke is still stronger than me.

"No," he says calmly.

"Let go!" I repeat, kicking with my legs once I give up on trying to free my hands.

"No," Sasuke says again, and he comes even closer, pressing his legs against mine and rendering mine useless. I continue to struggle, refusing to look at Sasuke until I finally give up. I continue looking down, waiting for him to say something, but he still remains silent.

"I hate you," I whisper, already sure that any words I say don't matter. It's silent for a while, but then I'm surprised as Sasuke speaks up.

"Don't say that," he says quietly, and I falter. What...?

"I do," I insist. "I hate your guts."

"Asami, don't say that."

"Why not?" I turn my gaze up towards Sasuke, looking into his eyes. "You hate me, too." Sasuke stares back with that intense glare of his, and if I weren't so angry I wouldn't be able to face him. I can't tell what he's thinking, but it seems he's absolutely pissed off.

"Tell me... What the hell makes you think I HATE you?" He says the words very slowly, so slowly it makes my stomach churn. I don't answer for a few seconds, mostly unsure of how to answer. It seemed pretty obvious to me the reason one may have come to the conclusion I've come to.

"Everything you did-"

"So all those nights... Every night you and I stood there... That night, when you left me... You call that hate?" Now, I get really mad. What is he trying to do?! Why is he saying those things? He knows perfectly well how I felt during that time, how I knew HE felt, and he's bringing it up now?

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Sasuke! Those nights... that time, it was long ago, and those times are over. The feelings I had then disappeared with the nights. What makes you think you can just bring them up and pretend it covers for how you acted towards me in Konoha?! You obviously don't carry those feelings you held during 'those nights', so why should I have to hold on?!" I scoff at this point, thinking again of Sasuke's stupid question. "Why do I think you hate me? If you didn't hate me, would you have said the things you did in Konoha? Answer that, Sasuke. If you loved me, would you treat me that way?"

"Why do you think I did that?! Do I really have to spell it out for you, Asami?" I pause, looking into Sasuke's dark, angry eyes, my glare not faltering. "I had to act differently because you LEFT!"

"What are you talking about?" At this point, both Sasuke and I are breathing slightly heavier than average, and it's made very apparent when we both fall into silence. I wait for Sasuke's answer, catching the breath I didn't know I lost. After a few seconds, I repeat myself. "Sasuke, what are you talking about?"

"Do you think Orochimaru was unaware of our dreams? Our discussions? Of US?" Sasuke waits for my answer, and I look down, my heart beating faster. What..? "Tell me, Asami. Just how stupid do you think Orochimaru is? That 'failed experiment'? It wasn't a failure; he knew what he was doing. He was the one who made us have those dreams. He expected it. He wanted it."

"That doesn't make sense, Sasuke."

"Then tell me why I suddenly changed and acted like that to you."

"What you're saying doesn't even explain it!"

"Just... listen. Orochimaru expected us to have those dreams, but he didn't expect them to tell us what they did; when they began to point to him as the bad guy, and the way to kill him, Orochimaru wasn't expecting that. So he separated us. He sent you on that one mission, expecting you to fail. You were supposed to forget everything. But he still wanted to use you, so he sent me to get you. He knew... He knew about the relationship between me and you, and he knew it would be dangerous if we teamed up... He would've killed us both if you had come back for the wrong reasons."

"Sasuke, this doesn't make any sense..." I shake my head, trying to put this all together in my head. Most of all, I don't want to accept that Sasuke still felt the same. He couldn't have... Especially since I have Naruto...

HAD Naruto...

"If I had told you what was really happening, Orochimaru would've known. He would've seen you came back not on his side, and he would've killed you. You had to come back on your own because of your own reasons, not because I told you to... That's why I acted that way... Because if I acted like that, you wouldn't come back for me, but for your own reasons, and you would be safe..." By now, Sasuke has released my wrists and has taken pressure off of me, still slightly bearing down on me, but not nearly enough to keep me trapped. I'm silent as I process this, then softly push Sasuke in his chest, away from me.

"How do you even know this, anyways? How do I know you're not just making this up?" I cross my arms and turn my gaze away from Sasuke, although in my heart I really want to accept him wholly.

"I overheard Orochimaru talking about it to Kabuto," Sasuke answers me, stepping closer. "Since I had become suspicious of him, I began to watch Orochimaru and listen in on his conversations as much as possible." I keep my gaze turned downwards, still trying to wrap my head around this. I feel Sasuke's gaze on me, burning a hole through me, and I turn my head up when he comes even closer, grabbing my hands. "Asami, why don't you believe me?"

"It's not that I don't believe you," I say quietly, and my heart begins to pound. Oh no... I'm falling into his trap... I don't pull away my hands, because I miss his touch, and I don't push him away or reject his words, because I want his being near me and to hear his voice...

"It used to be you and me against the world... You trusted me."

"I still do," I say quickly, and my mind is screaming at me to take it back.

"Are you lying to me?"

"Sasuke, I've never lied to you..." There's a short pause before Sasuke speaks up again, his lips near my ear as his hot breath ghosts across my skin.

"Even when you said you never loved me?"

"... I was lying then... But only that time..." As the words come out, I want to bang my head against the trunk of this tree. Why am I letting him coax me into trusting him again? Why do I not push him away as I did earlier? I want to, and I try to convince my body into moving against Sasuke, but I remain frozen in place. Sasuke looks into my eyes before slowly leaning in once again, his gaze never leaving mine.

He's testing me. He wants to see if I'll pull away. He's even gloating. He knows I won't pull away.

My eyes close and my chest grows hot in anger and passion and need and disgust at myself as Sasuke's soft lips capture mine once again. He gently forces his way in, making the walls I set up collapse as he's let in. Before I know it, I have my arms around his neck, my body begging for more of Sasuke, for his love, his affection, feeding off of it. And he gives it to me in soft, passionate kisses, bringing me closer with his arms around my waist.

Before long, Sasuke pulls away, leaving me breathless and in need. Although I want to reach out again, I stay with my back against the trunk of the tree, my face burning in a deep red blush, Sasuke's eyes never leaving me. He stares at me a while longer, and right when the urge to say something becomes unbearable, Sasuke speaks up.

"Remember the rules?" I stress my eyebrows in confusion for a second before nodding in recognition. Yes, the rules of not speaking while in the hideout, those rules we did abide by so long ago. "Same rules. I'm going for now... But we'll talk tonight." I look down, waiting for his feet to take him away, but he stands there still. I look up after a few seconds of silence to see him staring at me. I stare back, and he steps forward once more, trapping me and closing in on my lips. My stomach churns in my burning guilt and rage at myself, but I don't stop myself from closing my eyes and welcoming his kiss.

Then, Sasuke walks away. I stare into space after I'm alone, thinking about what just happened, unable to move myself. Then, tears suddenly well up in my eyes and run down my cheeks. I turn around so that my forehead is to the trunk of the tree and I drop to my knees, groaning and wiping my tears away as more wet my face. After a while, I give up wiping away the constant tears, gasping sobs with my eyes closed tightly.

What am I doing?! Why don't I push him away? Why do I WELCOME him so openly?! I ask myself these questions and more as I cry loudly, digging my nails into the bark of the tree and pulling my head back to bring it against the trunk again and again in quiet thuds. Naruto... If only I could forget all of this and go back to him! God, I never imagined being without him would be this painful...

I'm not sure how long I stay kneeled before the tree with my forehead keeping my balance. It feels like hours, but I'm sure it's not. I just know that it's long enough to make my body hate me for staying in that position so long after getting up. I slowly stand up, walking to where I know there will be a small creek. It's pretty far from the hideout, but nobody cares, me least of all. The sun is still bright in the sky by the time I reach it, but I know that will have to head back in just a short while or Orochimaru will grow suspicious and probably send someone after me to hurt me or something.

I kneel down next to the moving water, dipping my hands in the cool, shallow stream and bringing the handful to my face. I rinse my face and hands, almost immediately afterwards getting up and heading back. By the time I'm walking into the entrance of the hideout, the sky is beginning to put on a brilliant display of yellows, oranges and reds, the most saturated crimson just on the horizon. I walk straight to my room, shutting the door behind me and flopping face down on my bed. I close my eyes and sigh heavily, ready to just let myself drift off into an exhaust induced slumber, but am snapped right out of that state when I hear Sasuke's voice.

"Asami," he says, and although it's quiet, it still startles me. I jump up and turn to see him stepping closer.

"God, Sasuke," I say with my hand to my chest, breathing out a chuckle, "you can't sneak up on me like that." Sasuke approaches so that he's standing right next to my bed, staring down at me. "What is the topic in need of addressing?" Sasuke then reaches out and grabs my left wrist. By instinct, I try to pull it back, but his strong hand easily keeps my rather skinny wrist in place, his fingers well overlapping. I'm instantly reminded of our very first meeting, the exact same thing happening then. It seems things haven't changed much at all.

"This bracelet," Sasuke says, and my eyes immediately fall on the silver ribbon around my wrist. "It's new."

"Uh- yeah," I say, nodding. "I got it in Konoha." I grow a bit nervous as Sasuke examines the bracelet in fine detail, and I know he knows it was from Naruto. To my surprise, he simply drops my wrist without saying anything else about the bracelet. Then, he leans in really close, looking at me with a hard face.

"We have to talk tomorrow," Sasuke whispers, and it worries me. By the way he's acting, I assume it's concerning Orochimaru. I quietly nod, leaning back for some space. "Asami. Really, we HAVE to. It's important... Okay?"

"Alright, Sasuke," I reply in the same hushed tone as his, my eyes wide. After another second of staring into my eyes, Sasuke stands up straight again.

"I'll come and get you in the morning for training," he says in a normal tone of voice. "Be ready."

"Kay," I say with a lazy salute. "I shall await you." Then, Sasuke turns and leaves me alone in my room. I sit there for a few minutes after being relieved of Sasuke's presence, thinking of what he might possibly want to tell me about Orochimaru. There's really nothing I can think of, since everything that I probably need to know is already stored as knowledge in my memory. After coming up with nothing, I decide to retire for the night. I turn out the lights then cover myself in my bed, closing my eyes and succumbing to the darkness.

In the morning I await Sasuke as I said I would after getting ready for the day. Surely enough, Sasuke retrieves me and takes me out to our field we frequent- or rather, frequented- for training. The sun is bright in the sky, but the air outside is cool and crisp, and tall grass soft with little flowers hidden in the swaying strands of bright green. When we reach the center of the field, Sasuke stands in front of me, looking at me. As we stare at each other, I begin to wonder why he always does that. He never begins speaking right away, he'll just STARE and keep staring as if he's waiting for you to say something but he's really the one-

"Asami, I asked of you're ready to talk," Sasuke says, snapping me out of my internal monologue.

"Oh, yeah," I reply, nodding. "What's this about."

"This is partially my fault," Sasuke begins, and I'm confused. What's his fault? "I waited to talk to you, but now... If we don't act quickly, it could be too late."

"Sasuke, I'm confused," I say, stepping forward. "What are you talking about?"

"You need to leave the hideout soon," he says. "Both of us. We can't be here. But it won't be enough to just leave; Orochimaru could still find us. We have to kill him."

"What? Sasuke, you're talking like a mad man!"

"Asami, this is really confusing, but you need to listen carefully."

"Okay...?"

"There's something called the Dream World... That's the place we have to get to, to defeat Orochimaru. It isn't enough to just kill his body; we have to completely eliminate him, and the only way is by coming together in the Dream World. That was the whole point of that little jutsu Orochimaru did on us. He wants to get to the Dream World, because once he gets there, he can't be stopped. He created the Dream World through us... Asami, you and I, we ARE the Dream World."

"It still doesn't make sense... The Dream World? What even is that?"

"It's a different dimension, a higher one. It's the only one that people from our world can get to, but only certain people can get into the Dream World. It's a complicated process... When Orochimaru discovered that he created this dimension through us, he still didn't know how it worked, which gave us some leeway, but now he knows... The thing is, the Dream World doesn't just disappear when one of us goes away; it's still there, forever, even if we both die. But in order for us to kill Orochimaru, we BOTH have to be alive and meet in the Dream World. Once Orochimaru enters the Dream World, though, it's all over."

"Then why isn't he there right now?"

"He doesn't know how to get there." At this, I laugh. It probably isn't the most appropriate time, but seriously, it sounds ridiculous! Orochimaru is trying to get to a dimension he doesn't know how to reach? Really Orochimaru?

"Sasuke, I believe you," I say, "but that is ridiculous. Honestly, I thought Orochimaru was better than this."

"Asami, this is serious." It takes me a few seconds to get serious again, but I manage. "Now, you, I, and Orochimaru are all connected through the Dream World. If he gets there before us, he can control our bodies or just kill us on the spot. If we get there, then he dies. Orochimaru doesn't want us to find this out, so he intends to keep the way the Dream World works a secret from us. He needs to tell us about it, though, because only we can find the way into the Dream World. Once it's found, he can enter of freewill, and he will. Do you remember your dreams?"

"Yeah," I say with a nod.

"Those were from the Dream World. One thing about the Dream World is that there is no time; you can see the past and the future at the same time. We have the ability to see just a fraction of the things from the Dream World, and one of those things is the way to enter the Dream World."

"So he needs us to find it for him so he can enter..."

"Exactly. But... He intends on killing one of soon, and I don't know how soon that is..."

"Hm. I would guess the one he would kill is me since I'm easier to kill..." There's a short silence as I wait for Sasuke to speak up again. "This is the part where you tell me you can't be sure which of us he'll try to kill first."

"Hn." That damn Uchiha smirk.

"A real softy you are," I say sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

"Asami... Just be on your guard tonight. I'm not going to be at the hideout; I'm going to be searching for the Dream World. I'm close to finding it... Once I find it, I can't come back and tell you. I'm going in right away, and after that I'm not so sure. I might be able to still contact you through dreams to show you where it is, but that's not a given. You might be stuck finding it on your own, but you have to find it."

"Why can't we leave together to search for it?"

"Orochimaru will send someone after us. If I go alone, he won't. If we end up not finding it and he sends someone after us, things will go very bad very quickly." Again, there's silence as we both stand there. The way things are now, it already seems they're going really bad.

"Okay then... Well, is there anything else I need to know..?"

"Let's just train for now and then head back." I nod and then step back, and henceforth begins our regimen.

···

That night, I head back to the hideout alone, going once again straight to my room and almost immediately falling asleep, fearing that at any moment, the snake man will appear and suck the life out of me. My dream is pure darkness, and it seems that as soon as I close my eyes to sleep, I'm opening them again to morning light. But it isn't only the morning light that's awakened me; very near in the hideout, I hear crashing and what sounds like small explosions. Then, in the midst of all that, I hear the one thing that has me in my feet and running out my room in an instant; th he sound of Naruto's voice.

((Okay! Super long chap for my lovely people who were waiting for this^^ Sorry if it wasn't explained too well... If you're confused, please just leave a question and ask me and I'll try to clear it up. Thanks for reading!))


	9. A note from the author

((So guys, I had the pleasure to experience my first bit of hate mail^^ It's in the reviews if you want to see what it says, but I'll quote some of it. "SS is canon so just kill yourself, self-inserting loser." This person reviewed as a guest, and rightly so. Well first off, spiteful person and all others who may not agree with my views or whatever, this is a fan FICTION. Fiction, as in NOT REAL. Its not even in relation to the plot of Naruto. Also, there are different ships and categories for stories for a REASON. That reason is because of the opposing viewpoints people like me and people like the very spiteful person there have. I don't know about you guys, but if I don't like something, I don't go around in it then bash it. That's a bit idiotic. Okay? This is my story, and in my story, my OC and Sasuke have a relationship. Don't like it? Leave! Don't tell someone you don't know to kill themselves. Besides, I'm not the loser here. I have better things to do than read fanfics that encircle the pairing I despise then get mad because those people write about it. And I don't wish death upon people who are different than me *EVERY OTHER PERSON IN THE WORLD*. If you like SS so much, go read a fanfic about that instead. Thank you bye.

((Maybe this is why I see so many people bashing SS. So many people in that fandom just make themselves out to be complete morons. But hey, I don't sink ships. That's not nice. Someone please do that person a favor and refer to them a nice SS fanfic they can be happy about so that they don't die of stress. Goodness me. Do you guys get me? Like? How stupid is that? Maybe it's just me. I mean, if you get that mad over anime that you start wishing death upon people, maybe you just shouldn't watch anime, because that's not healthy.

((Sorry that this is just an AN chapter, but I just wanted to make y'all nice people aware of that^^ Thanks for being supportive of me and my story! And I hope you find some stability, spiteful person. Bye~))


End file.
